Carol Ann Duffy, Richard Dawkins, Grayson Perry and Alan Bennett are amongst a string of high-profile names speaking at the 25th Charleston Festival.
Set up to reflect the intellectual and creative ideals of Bloomsbury group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the original inhabitants of Charleston, the Festival retains its distinctive sense of intimacy and unique cultural context.
Today’s Festival echoes the hub of ideas which the house became in the early twentieth century, when it hosted John Maynard Keynes, Virginia Woolf, T S Eliot and E M Forster. Visitors to the Festival this year can look forward to an equally stellar line-up.
Events with availability include:
• A debate on the most significant cultural moments in the past 25 years, with a panel including Peter Bazalgette and Nicholas Kenyon
• Celebrated Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon reading from across the range of his work and that of his friend and mentor, the late Seamus Heaney
• Award-winning American author Lorrie Moore discussing her work and writing in the short form with Lynne Truss
An array of novelists of international repute include Ian McEwan, Robert Harris and Edward St Aubyn; Alison Macleod and Maggie Gee on being inspired by Virginia Woolf; global titans of literature Karl Ove Knausgaard and Tim Winton; Michael Ondaatje on his writing life beyond The English Patient.
Discussions of history and politics range from Jung Chang in conversation with Jon Snow about China’s Iron Lady to James Naughtie and Ben Macintyre on espionage. Charleston was established as a haven for writers and artists who were conscientious objectors in WWI, and speakers looking at the war from the perspective of a century’s distance include Max Hastings, Mark Bostridge, Helen Dunmore and Michael Morpurgo.
Moving towards the late May bank holiday weekend, other highlights with a few seats left include Christopher Hampton and William Nicolson on transforming recent history into literature, film and drama, and Rachel Cooke and Ben Watt discussing our image of the 1950s.
Diana Reich, Artistic Director of the Festival, said: “Eighty years after Virginia Woolf famously discerned a seismic shift in the human condition – ‘on or about December, 1910, human character changed’ – the Festival was born with the aim of making Charleston once again a centre for exploring new ideas and a hub of artistic and intellectual life. As we celebrate a landmark anniversary, we look forward to a bonanza Festival and to continuing to set the agenda, whilst remaining in touch with our unique heritage.”
Tickets are available from Brighton Dome Ticket Office, open 10am – 6pm Monday – Saturday.
In person: 29 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG
By phone: 01273 709709
Online: www.brightonticketshop.com
For listings of all events including sold out sessions, CLICK HERE:
Friday, May 16 – 1pm: Restorations and Transformations: Jamie Fobert, Charles Saumarez Smith, Jeremy Dixon, £14
Sunday, May 18 – 12pm: Vistas of History: Mark Bostridge and Helen Dunmore with Claire Armitstead, £14
Sunday, May 18 – 5pm: Breakfast with Lucian: Geordie Greig with Lynn Barber – RETURNS ONLY, £14
Sunday May 18 – 7.30pm: 25 Years On: Peter Bazalgette, Philip Hook, Nicholas Kenyon, Fiona MacCarthy and Francine Stock, £14
Wednesday, May 21 – 3.30pm: Catastrophe: Max Hastings – RETURNS ONLY, £14
Wednesday, May 21 – 6pm: Such Sweet Sorrow: Nicholas Hytner – RETURNS ONLY, £14
Wednesday, May 21 – 8pm: Last Sane Man: Tanya Harrod, £14
Thursday, May 22 – 1pm: Start the Week – Radio 4: Guest presenter TBA – RETURNS ONLY, FREE
Thursday, May 22 – 3.30pm: Their Brilliant Career: Rachel Cooke and Ben Watt with David Kynaston, £14
Thursday, May 22 – 6pm: The Way They Live Now: Sadie Jones and Edward St Aubyn with Nicolette Jones, £14
Thursday, May 22 – 8pm: Boyhood: Karl Ove Knausgaard and Tim Winton with Rachel Cusk, £14
Friday, May 23 – 1pm: Stoke and Sissinghurst: Emma Bridgewater and Sarah Raven with Nicolette Jones, £14
Friday, May 23 – 3.30pm: Pioneers: Rachel Holmes and Sigrid Rausing with Polly Toynbee, £14
Friday, May 23 – 8pm: Keynes and Our Grandchildren: Paul Mason with Robert Skidelsky – RETURNS ONLY, £14
Saturday, May 25 – 12pm: Ham Spray Triangles: Jans Ondaatje Rolls and Lucy Lethbridge with Virginia Nicholson, £14
Saturday, May 25 – 2.30pm: Sick Rooms: Michael Cunningham and Helen Garner with Susie Nicklin, £14
Saturday, May 24 – 5pm: Follow, Poet! : Paul Muldoon, £14
Sunday, May 25 – 12pm: Classical Encounters: Charlotte Higgins and Adam Nicolson with Imogen Lycett Green, £14
Sunday, May 25 – 2.30pm: Bark: Lorrie Moore with Lynne Truss, £14
Monday, May 26 – 12pm: Odes to Virginia Woolf: Alison Macleod and Maggie Gee with Frances Spalding, £14
Monday, May 26 – 2.30pm: Reckless: Christopher Hampton and William Nicholson with Rupert Christiansen, £14
Monday, May 26 – 5pm: Displacements: Linda Spalding and Michael Ondaatje, £14
For more information about Charleston, CLICK HERE:
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