Bath Literature Festival – A meeting of minds
Bath Literature Festival 2010 takes place in the glorious Georgian City from Saturday 27 February to Sunday 7 March.
It’s the first festival programmed by new artistic director James Runcie, and firmly reflects his vision that a literary festival should be a meeting of minds, a shared opportunity to think about what it means to be alive right here and now.
James Runcie has said that his intention is simply to “make Bath the most intelligent, most humane and most thought-provoking Literature Festival in UK”. In order to achieve this he’s enlisted the support of some of the finest writers working today: the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy; Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel; Forward Prize winner Don Paterson; A N Wilson; Michael Frayn; Claire Tomlin and Rose Tremain to name just a few.
In 2010 each day of the festival will have its own dedicated theme to allow for greater exploration and insight: ranging from Shakespeare to politics and ancient Rome to contemporary Britain via food and music and France(!). Every morning will start with a talk by a major topical thinker who sets out the theme for the day, eg. Adam Zamoyski on Chopin and Mary Beard on The Roman Triumph.
At lunchtime there will be a series of debates in association with Prospect Magazine exploring the burning cultural and political issues facing us today – Has Western Civilisation Had its Day?; Is Google good for you? Is Food too Cheap? Does the General Election Still Matter? These will be deliberately provocative and intended as a springboard for debate and incisive discussion.
The afternoons are filled with history, philosophy, biography and contemporary fiction from the likes of Felipe Fernández-Armesto, David Crystal, Adam Foulds and Chloe Aridjis, Rachel Cusk and John Crace.
Each day will draw to a close with a choice of a performance; a comedy or a reading; or a face-to-face interview with an intellectual heavyweight. Day one offers a choice between an M R James ghost story in the atmospheric setting of the local Masonic Hall; Andrew Roberts, a leading British historian, contemplating whether, with a different decision-making process and strategy, the Axis powers could have won WW2; and the wit and wisdom of award-winning British Asian stand-up comedian Shazia Mirza.
Never predictable or conventional, this LitFest offers quirky interludes from the Guardian cartoonist Posy Simmonds, French Rock star Mathias Malzieu, cultural guru Paul Morely and the living legend that is photographer Don McCullin. There is a regional Big Read for adults, Kamila Shamsie’s searing Burnt Shadows – and, for the first time, one for kids, too, in the shape of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s hysterical Cosmic.
If the Bath Literature Festival is defined by its ideas, its geographical home is defined by its history and built environment and James Runcie has ensured that next year events will respond to its setting as never before. The Romans and Georgians make their mark on the programme as on the City, and a new series of literary and historical walks around and beyond Bath will have festival-goers seeking stout shoes.
Spread across 9 days, with more than 100 events and featuring 200+ fine and fascinating writers Bath Literature Festival 2010 looks set to meet James Runcie’s objective and provide an original take on the ubiquitous literary festival: one that places the meeting of minds between readers and writers at its heart.
Brochures and tickets are available now from Bath Festivals Box Office, or visit: bathlitfest.org.uk
