The 2022 Rye Arts Festival offers a handful of speakers who are coming back by popular demand – but each with a very different talk to when they last appeared here.
Top of the list is Gavin Esler, the former BBC Newsnight presenter, who spoke in 2019 about Brexit and tickets sold out very quickly. This year, on Wednesday, September 21, Gavin will be asking the questions: “How Britain ends? How United is our Kingdom?” After a 30-minute talk in the newly reopened ballroom at the George Hotel, Gavin will open the floor to a 30 minute Q&A session. Always an engaging speaker, tickets for his talk are already selling well, so book your tickets now, while you can.
On Tuesday, September 13, Lord David Owen returns to Rye after three years to talk about his book on the historic relationship between Russia and Britain.
The book Russia: Riddle, Mystery and Enigma was published last year, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and this will be a timely opportunity to hear the former foreign secretary’s views on this geopolitical crisis and how he believes the UK should respond to Putin.
And a three-peat sees Peter Stanford coming to speak at St Mary’s Church on Thursday, September 22, about his book If These Stones Could Talk. Peter chronicles the history of Christianity in the UK over the last 2,000 years, by selecting one religious building from each of the 20 centuries. The choice of buildings will reflect the growth of Christianity in these shores, how it has changed and how it has sort to remain relevant in changing times.
For details of these engaging talks and all the 70 plus events that make up the 51st arts festival between September 9 and 25, go to www.ryeartsfestival.org.uk.
Image Credits: Mykel Nicolaou , Jeff Overs , RAF .