Bookings open for Berwick Literary Festival free online programme

The event runs from October 14-17, with the online programme free except for writing workshops.

Festival programme co-ordinator Mike Fraser says: “Many sessions are attracting early attention including headliners Simon Armitage, Gordon Brown, Salley Vickers, William Dalrymple and Hollie McNish.

"Events with topical themes are also high on the audience agenda. We have sessions focused on the state of the British Army and its role in Afghanistan, the influence of technology hype and conspiracy theories, the effect of coronavirus on GPs and the communities they care for and the history of the intense bond between people and their dogs – and everything in between.”

There is a charge for the Festival’s in-person events in association with Berwick’s Maltings Theatre: poet laureate Simon Armitage reading works from Magnetic Field inspired by his childhood in West Yorkshire; and Dyad Theatre Productions’ atmospheric Female Gothic. Tickets for both events are available from The Maltings.

Trending topics abound in this year’s programme: Gordon Brown aims to fix the world’s most pressing problems in his powerful book Seven Ways to Change the World, William Dalrymple comprehensively addresses the story of the world’s first global corporate superpower in The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of The East India Company; Michael Taylors’ The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery investigates the 19th-century British pro-slavery lobby; and Alwyn Turner’s All in it Together: England in the early 21st century tackles the erosion of public trust in ‘authority’ – from government to the BBC and the Church to law enforcement.

Full details at berwickliteraryfestival.com/

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