Events 2017

Wednesday 1st November

19.00 - 20.30

Andrew Michael Hurley and Laura Purcell

Join us at 19.00 on the evening of 1st November (All Saints Day) for an evening of frightening fiction with Andrew Michael Hurley and Laura Purcell. Andrew became a publishing sensation last year when his debut novel The Loney became a word of mouth bestseller and won the prestigious Costa First Book Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards. Readers were transfixed by this gothic tale of a strange coastline known as The Loney – a brilliantly unsettling and atmospheric debut.

READ MORE...

Saturday 4th November

11.00 - 12.30

Guided Walk with Peter Fiennes

The magic and mystery of woods and trees are embedded in our culture, from ancient folklore to modern literature. They offer us refuge, a place to play and a place to think. They let us dream of other ways of living. Join Peter Fiennes, author of The Oak, Ash and Thorn, on a guided tour of the remnants of the Great North Wood, the forgotten forest that once stretched from Croydon to Camberwell.

READ MORE...

Sunday 5th November

15.00 – 16.00

Lucy Reynolds and Jenna Herman

Inspired by the parrots of Brockwell Park, Parrots Don’t Live In The City is the wonderful new picture book by local mums Lucy Reynolds and Jenna Herman. Join Lucy and Jenna for a special story-time as they explore a world of hidden animals, birds and mini-beasts in search of London’s special parrots. Featuring fun craft activities and plenty of squawking.

READ MORE...

10 – 12th November

Photography by Mihaela Noroc

Four years ago, Mihaela Noroc left her life in Romania and set off around the world with her camera. She has been travelling ever since, and thanks to her photos of women, taken in nearly every country around the world, she is now a social media sensation, with her photo blog attracting over one and a half million followers.

READ MORE...

Friday 10th November

19.30 – 21.00

An Evening with Ali Smith

Ali Smith, who deservedly received a CBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List, is one of the most inventive writers working in English today. Her fourth appearance on the Man Booker Prize shortlist in 2017, for her elegiac post-Brexit novel Autumn, consolidates her reputation. Her deceptively playful style reveals a depth of imagination and compassion which comes through in titles such as Hotel World, There But For The and Other Stories. Above all else Ali radiates generosity of spirit, borne out by her championing of other writers, and none more passionately than Tove Jansson, for whose The Summer Book and A Winter Book she has written introductions.

READ MORE...

Saturday 11th November

11.30 - 12.30

Catherine Nixey in conversation with The Reverend David Stephenson

Despite the long-held notion that the early Christians were meek and mild, going to their martyr's deaths singing hymns of love and praise, the truth, as Catherine Nixey reveals in her new book The Darkening Age, is very different.

READ MORE...

Saturday 11th November

13.30 – 14.30

Scriberia Design Agency

Remember how you used to draw with confidence and joy as a child? This session will help you harness that natural skill, and along the way you will discover how drawing can give your thoughts clarity, trigger memories, invigorate passions and find solutions.

READ MORE...

Saturday 11th November

15.00 – 16.00

Susan Wightman

Writers may choose the words that we read, but typographers define their appearance on the page. In this session designer Susan Wightman (co-author of the definitive Typographic Style Handbook) takes us through the art and science of typography.

READ MORE...

Saturday 11th November

16.30 – 17.30

Sam Leith

How do you write a job application, a thank-you card, an email to your bank manager, to your children's headteacher, to your clients or your boss? How do you prepare a speech to win the argument, get the vote of confidence, or embarrass the bridegroom? Getting these things right - or wrong - can be life-changing.

READ MORE...

Sunday 12th November

10.00 – 11.00

Kate Pankhurst

Children’s author and illustrator Kate Pankhurst leads an interactive session celebrating historic women who changed the world. A descendant of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, Kate is also the author of bestselling picture book Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World.

READ MORE...

Sunday 12th November

14.00 – 15.00

Simon Jenkins

Revered author and journalist Simon Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain, from Waterloo to Wemyss Bay, Betws-y-Coed to Beverley, to select his hundred favourite railway stations. His journey is documented in a beautiful new book Britain’s Hundred Best Railway Stations, published this September by Penguin.

READ MORE...

Thursday 30th November

19.00 – 20.30

Robert Peston

Drawing on his years of experience as a political, economic and business journalist, Robert Peston attempts to show us what has gone wrong with the world, and how we might start to put it right.

READ MORE...

Sunday 12th November

16.00 – 17.00

Henry Blofeld in conversation with Nicholas Lezard

For over half a century, Henry Blofeld has conveyed his unfailing enthusiasm for the game of cricket as a much loved broadcaster and journalist. Now that ‘Blowers’ has decided to declare his Test Match Innings closed, he joins us at the Dulwich literary Festival to discuss his life in the commentary box.

READ MORE...

Sunday 12th November

19.00 – 20.30

Alan Hollinghurst in conversation with Razia Iqbal

‘Today’s outing was to Dulwich, to see the picture gallery. She had been there, unrememberingly, before, when she was small enough to ride in a backpack, little ranee on a jogging elephant, her view of the paintings relieved by the back of her father’s neck. Though he said ‘Look!’ from time to time they had gone there entirely for his own pleasure.’

READ MORE...