Rye Arts Festival has released tickets for another selection of world-class events that will be part of this year’s Festival between September 14 and 28. And there are four events under the Books and Talks banner that offer something for everyone, since there is poetry, art, novels, biography and a heart-rending true account of a couple’s despair and redemption through a long walk round the coast.
First up, Adam Nicolson returns to Rye Arts Festival, to talk about his new book The Making of Poetry. The former scion of Sissinghurst took a year out to go to the Quantocks to research the year 1797-98 when the poets Coleridge and Wordsworth (and William’s ever-present sister Dorothy) went to stay in the same Somerset landscape to seek inspiration. And the trip paid off in spades as this sojourn resulted in Coleridge’s The Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, while Wordsworth wrote his revolutionary Lyrical Ballads and poems such as Tintern Abbey.
Adam spent much of his time in Somerset with the artist Tom Hammick, who made woodcuts from the fallen trees that the poets may have sat under seeking inspiration.
This promises to be a fascinating talk at Rye Methodist Church on Tuesday, September 17 and the event has the added bonus of being hosted by the author Alex Preston.
The Festival is thrilled that one of the country’s best-loved and best-selling novelists is coming up from his home on a Cornish farm. On Tuesday, September 24 Patrick Gale will make his first visit to Rye. The writer of 16 novels and the award-winning 2017 BBC drama Man in an Orange Shirt has a huge following around the world. And he will be talking about his most recent novel Take Nothing With You – a funny, sad book that explores the collision between childish hero worship and an extremely messy adult love life. The protagonist is a teenage cellist, and the cello was and is a passion of Patrick’s – so how much is autobiographical?
Patrick is an interesting, engaging and charming speaker – so much so that at an event just down the coast from Rye last year his female interviewer passed out on stage in mid-conversation with the author! One thing we can promise, you won’t be disappointed by an afternoon in the company of Patrick Gale!
September 26 at 12pm is the date and time of historian Professor Andrew Roberts’ talk about his new biography of Sir Winston Churchill. There have been around 1,000 biographies of Churchill, but the redoubtable Roberts has managed to break new ground by gaining the first ever access to King George VI’s private diaries, as well as 40 other new sources.
Of course, as Roberts is a professional historian this isn’t an hagiography and he makes no attempt to hide Churchill’s many faults, but in doing so, his strengths, virtues and character are brought even more to the fore. This is a must-see event for anyone who has the slightest interest in one of Great Britain’s greatest-ever sons.
On Friday September 20 we welcome the multiple award-winning first-time author Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path. Be prepared for a heart-wrenching tale of utter personal catastrophe. In a matter of days, Raynor Winn discovers her husband, Moth, has been diagnosed with a degenerative terminal illness, then they lose their home and also their livelihoods. Homeless, they decide to set out on an adventure – walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon, Cornwall (past Patrick Gale’s farm) and Devon again, with all they now own on their backs.
This is no stroll in the countryside and they are tested to the limits of endurance and emotions on a truly amazing journey in all its senses.
But the honesty, the grief, and the horrors of this shared story are life-affirming. The natural world is revealed as healing and a story of home and how it can be lost, rebuilt and rediscovered in so many ways brings sadness and joy. You must not miss Raynor and Moth’s story.
Tickets for these talks (and other selected events) are on sale online now at the Rye Arts Festival website.
Image Credits: Dan Hall , Rye Arts Festival .