Chorleywood Literary Festival 2015

MELVYN BRAGG | NICK FROST | JONATHAN DIMBLEBY | JUDITH KERR | ANDREW MILLER | DAN CRUICKSHANK | JONATHAN BECKMAN | VINCE CABLE | CHARLES MOORE | GILES MILTON

An all-star line-up of author events will decend on Chorleywood and the surrounding area to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Chorleywood Literary Festival, which takes place fromNovember 4 – 18.

Headlining this year is iconic children’s book-illustrator Judith Kerr, who will be discussing her much-loved books including Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, whilst other highlights include Vince Cable introducing his book on the 2008 economic crash After the Storm; Charles Moore who explores what it’s like to be the official biographer of Margaret Thatcher, and Nick Frost who will be talking about his candid autobiography, Truths, Half Truths & Little White Lies: A Memoir.

Full Programme

An Evening of Fiction, Food and Fun - Louise Lee, Tasmina Perry, Stella Newman
Wednesday November 4th | 7.30pm | The Junction, Christchurch Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, WD3 5SG
Louise Lee’s debut novel described as “endlessly entertaining and sportingly funny” is about a private detective, an occupation she herself has followed. Tasmina Perry is a Sunday Times bestselling author and her latest book is a story of love and loss with a long buried secret at its core. Stella Newman writes fiction with a food critic as her protagonist. Event vouchers £8, book will be discounted against a book on the night.

Dan Cruickshank - History of Architecture in 100 Buildings
Thursday November 5th | 7.30pm | Merchant Taylors school, Sandy Lodge Rd, Moor Park, Northwood HA6 2HT
Dan Cruickshank is an historian and BBC TV personality whose passion for architecture has given him an interesting perspective on world history. Buildings reflect the time and civilisation in which they were constructed; the economy, religion, science, traditions and culture in which they exist. Thus a history of architecture is a history of the world. Can a prison be a thing of beauty as well as of power? These are perennial philosophical questions that Cruickshank seeks to answer. He surveys civilisation through the pioneers, visionaries, follies, ancients, rhetoric, scale, survivals and revivals of its greatest constructions. Event vouchers £12, book will be discounted on the night.

Melvyn Bragg - Now is the Time
Monday November 9th | 7.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Multi-award winning author, Melvyn Bragg’s latest novel, Now is the Time, is set during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. At the heart of the story is Richard ll, the 14 year old king, Joan, his mother – considered by historians to be very manipulative- Wat Tyler, his daughter and John Ball, an outlaw priest. The country is in the grip of the plague and there is no money left. Richard, guided by his charismatic mother, has sent armed commissioners to collect his crippling taxes. Wat Tyler and John Ball lead tens of thousands of ordinary people in a march on London. For three days of intense violence it looks like they may prevail. This is a masterful blend of fact and fiction in a story of power, justice, religion, loyalty, politics and ethics about a little known period of England’s turbulent past. Event vouchers £12,book will be discounted on the night.

Debut Authors’ Evening - Antonia Honeywell, Catriona Ward Colin Macintyre, and Laura Barnett sponsored by Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Tuesday November 10th | 7.30pm | The Russell School, Brushwood Drive, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire WD3 5RR
Antonia Honeywell’s novel The Ship is a dystopian story set in London after some cataclysmic event. A ship can save 500 but how to choose? Catriona Ward’s Rawblood, set on Dartmoor, is an uncanny ghost story about a mysterious ‘white lady’ who takes away those that dare to fall in love. Colin Macintyre’s The Letters of Ivor Punch takes the form of a dossier of letters by an aged Scottish islander, who writes to everyone and anyone about everything and anything. Laura Barnett’s Versions of Us tells the story of a Cambridge couple who meet when their bikes collide. Event vouchers £8, book will be discounted against a book on the night.

Jonathan Dimbleby – The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War
Wednesday November 11th | 7.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
The Battle of the Atlantic was - though often overlooked - crucial to the allied victory in the Second World War.
Through fascinating contemporary diaries and letters, from the leaders and from the sailors on all sides, political broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby creates a thrilling narrative that uniquely places the campaign in the context of the entire Second World War, and tells the epic story of the decisions that led to victory. Event vouchers £12, book will be discounted on the night.

Andrew Miller - The Crossing
Thursday November 12th | 7.30pm | The Russell School, Brushwood Drive, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire WD3 5RR
‘She is sailing. She is alone. Ahead of her is the world's curve and beyond that, everything else. The known, the imagined, the imagined known.’ Who else has entered Tim's life the way Maud did? This girl who fell past him, lay seemingly dead on the ground, then stood and walked. That was where it all began - From the Costa Award-winning author of Pure comes a viscerally honest, hypnotic portrait of modern love and motherhood, the lure of the sea and the ultimate unknowability of others. This pitch-perfect novel confirms Andrew Miller's position as one of the finest writers of his generation. Event vouchers £8, book will be discounted on the night.

An Evening with Judith Miller
Friday November 13th | 7.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
A regular expert on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and co-host of The House Detectives, Miller began collecting in the 1960s and has since become a leading specialist on antiques. She co-founded the bestselling Miller's Antiques Guides in 1979 and now has over 100 books to her name. This is a rare chance to bring along your antiques and get Judith Miller to explain and evaluate your family treasures! Event voucher £8, book will be discounted on the night.

Giles Milton - Fascinating Footnotes from History
Saturday November 14th | 12 noon | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Giles Milton, internationally best-selling author of Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, Wolfram, and Russian Roulette among others, is an historian who has the rare skill of making history come alive. His latest title is a collection of the 100 quirkiest and most fascinating nuggets from history. Did you know Hitler took cocaine, or Charlie Chaplin’s corpse was filched and held to ransom? Full of stories about spies, cannibals, adventurers and slaves, the title plays testament to the notion that fact truly can be stranger than fiction. Event voucher £8, book will be discounted on the night.

Judith Kerr in conversation
Saturday November 14th | 2.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Judith Kerr OBE is one of our best loved children’s authors. Her children’s books The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Mog, When Willy Went to the Wedding, and The Great Granny Gang must be on every child’s bookshelf and are amongst every adult’s favourite books to read aloud. Her latest book, destined to become a children’s classic, is Mister Cleghorn’s Seal. A warm and funny adventure story about Mr Cleghorn, who takes in an abandoned seal pup that he finds on a trip to the seaside. Event vouchers are £12, book will be discounted on the day.

Vince Cable - The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What it Means
Saturday November 14th | 4.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Vince Cable was Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010-2015, and the Liberal Democrats Treasury Spokesperson from 1999-2003. His bestselling title, The Storm explores the economic crash of 2008. Cable, named ‘the sage of the Credit Crunch’ by the Daily Telegraph, has long been considered as a voice of reason on the subject across the political spectrum. Event book vouchers are £12, book will be discounted on the day.

Nick Frost - Truths, Half Truths & Little White Lies: A Memoir
Saturday November 14th | 7.30pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Nick Frost is a much-loved comedy actor and writer. He hit our screens in the cult comedy Spaced which marked the start of a hugely successful writing and acting partnership with Simon Pegg. Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies is no misery memoir, it is a (mostly) honest account of Nick’s life, which will make you laugh one minute and cry the next. Event vouchers £12, book will be discounted on the night.

Jonathan Beckman - How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne
Sunday November 15th | 12 noon | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Jonathan Beckman is senior editor of The Literary Review and in 2010 he won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction. Beckman’s internationally acclaimed title brilliantly sheds light on the story of Marie Antoinette and a missing 2400-carat diamond necklace worth 1.6 million francs. She was accused of wasting state funds on this necklace while her people starved, but is this truly the case? Event voucher £8, book will be discounted on the night.

Natalie Livingstone - Mistresses of Cliveden
Sunday November 15th | 2pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
The Mistresses of Cliveden tells the story of four extraordinary women, who over the course of three centuries, shaped British society through scandal, intrigue and political machinations, and whom were all linked by Cliveden. The title provides a fascinating, intimate portrait of the inner workings of one the great houses in England and the aristocratic women who lived there. Event voucher £8, book will be discounted on the night.

Sophie Hannah - A Game For All The Family
Sunday November 15th | 4pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
The idea for Sophie Hannah’s new thriller, A Game For All the Family, came to her while she was researching the first ever Hercule Poirot continuation novel and staying at Greenway, Agatha Christie’s former home in Devon. The Monogram Murders was an immediate hit and Sophie’s visit was the highlight of last year’s festival. Join her this year to hear about her experiences bringing together her personal style of contemporary psychological thriller writing with Golden Age Detective Fiction and to find out what’s coming next from this most popular and prolific of authors. Event book vouchers are £12, book will be discounted on the day.

John Suchet – The Last Waltz
Sunday November 15th | 7pm | Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
The Last Waltz tells the intriguing story of two generations of the Viennese Strauss family that produced some of the best known and best loved music of the nineteenth century. From nowhere they produced two waltz maestros and hundreds of instantly recognisable and enduring melodies, such as The Blue Danube Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Voices of Spring and The Radetzky March, which still define Vienna today. Event book vouchers are £12, book will be discounted on the day.

Wendy Holden - Born Survivors with guest appearance from ‘Miracle Baby’, Eva Clarke
Monday November 16th | 7.30pm| Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Hertfordshire, WD3 5LN
Journalist and biographer Wendy Holden tells the remarkable story of three ‘miracle babies’ secretly born in Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. Seventy years on and now living in Britain and America, these ‘siblings of the heart’ have come together for the first time in Holden’s book, to tell the remarkable stories of the three mothers who defied death to give them life. Eva Clarke, one of the miracle babies, will be accompanying Holden in this rare, not to be missed event. Event voucher £8, book will be discounted on the night.

Charles Moore - Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography
Tuesday November 17th | 7.30pm | Merchant Taylors school, Sandy Lodge Rd, Moor Park, Northwood HA6 2HT
Charles Moore was chosen by Margaret Thatcher in 1997 to write her biography, on condition he didn’t publish until after her death. Moore's biography of Margaret Thatcher makes her into a three-dimensional historical figure giving unparalleled insight into her early life and formative years. He is an author and journalist who writes for the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. Event book vouchers are £12.00, book will be discounted on the day.

Claire Harman - The Life Charlotte Bronte
Wednesday November 18th | 7.30pm | Chorleywood Library, Lower Rd, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire WD3 5LB
Claire Harman portrays the great novelist Charlotte Bronte as a pioneer of feminism, writing and publishing innovative books at a time when most novels were penned by men. Harman’s book, published to mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte’s birth, is a readable, lively biography that sheds new light on Charlotte’s life. Event book vouchers are £8.00, book will be discounted on the day.

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