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War correspondent recalls the achievements of the Great War women – Kate Adie at Swindon Festival of Literature

13 May

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Ask anyone to name a woman associated with the battlefield and you’ll get one of three answers – Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, or former BBC chief news correspondent Kate Adie – a veteran of Tiananmen Square, the first Gulf War, and the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Apt, then, that Kate has written a book about the women of the first world war. It’s called Fighting on the Home Front, but if the title suggests that women never made it across the Channel, let alone to the front line, then that’s far from the truth – as the author will explain later. Continue reading →

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The Poison Passion of the Chocolate Killer with a Bounty On Her Head – Lisa Appignanesi at Swindon Festival of Literature

12 May
Lisa Appignanesi ©Calyx Picture Agency
Lisa Appignanesi sans Bounty ©Calyx Picture Agency

Lisa Appignanesi gives an incredible insight into the way three different countries dealt with crimes of passion in the late 19th century.

In depth research and extraction of the most arresting cases makes her book ‘Trials of Passion’ a fascinating but also surprising read.

In a general sense we learn that the French legal system flexed to deal with emotion whereas the British system steadfastly sought out the visible facts and used cold factual evidence to construct a case. Continue reading →

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Ink, paints, and happy coincidences – Korky Paul at Children’s Day, Swindon Festival of Literature

12 May

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“What’s my name?” illustrator Korky Paul demands at Swindon Festival of Literature’s children’s day.

Bit of an ego trip for a kids’ event, thinks I (Chronicler Pete), as a barn full of youngsters yell back a response.

“Snorky?” retorts Korky in mock-indignation? “Snorky Snortle?” Then he draws and colours a Snorky Snortle in super-quick time, taking leads from the children as to what kind of nose (elephant), mouth (crocodile), arms, and legs (chicken) the fictional beast should have. Continue reading →

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Erotic cupcakes – Swindon Slam! in Swindon Festival of Literature

12 May

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So it was Swindon versus love tokens in the final of the 19th Swindon Slam!, on Saturday night.

Bit of a brave decision, dissing the hosting town in your bid to be crowned King of Slam. I’ll admit I quite liked Robert Garnham’s* rhyming of ‘Billie Piper’ and ‘hyper’ and comparison of Swindon to Philip Scofield. I can see where he’s coming from. But whether this counted against him or whether Tina Saderhome’s* domestic tale of love tokens was better, I’m not sure. In case you were wondering, love tokens are those things which really test a relationship – not when your spouse/daughter is kidnapped to ensure you commit a presidential assassination**, no we’re talking about leaving the toilet uncleaned after, ahem, a bowel movement: ‘I didn’t realise you’d literally leave your shit lying around’.***

And – in the bit I was there for anyway – there was *breaking news* no poetry about sex. Unless you count the erotic way cupcakes were described in one stanza, and Fozzie Bear in another (‘Wear the Hat!’). Okay, these were the two poets that slammed in the final. So, actually, if you do want to win a slam, make sure your poetry is loaded with smut.

*This spelling is probably utterly wrong.
**Sorry, been watching all eight series of 24 again.
***This is an appalling paraphrase.

Words by Louisa Davison. Photos by Calyx Pictures.

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Joyce makes perfect sense (Rachel not James) – Swindon Festival of Literature

10 May

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Rachel Joyce wrote The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, her first novel, which was the ninth best-selling book in 2013 (outselling JK Rowling’s first foray into adult fiction) and was nominated for the Man Booker Prize.

For these reasons my newly sharpened pencil jabbed me hard in the thigh when Rachel started to give writing tips.

Continue reading →

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Engaging our brains with Swindon Philosophical Society – Nick Cohen and Stefan Collini at Swindon Festival of Literature

10 May
Matt Holland v Nick Cohen – who would win..? ©Calyx Pictures
Matt Holland v Stefan Collini – who would win..? ©Calyx Pictures
Nick Cohen. Image by Martin Hawes

On Monday, the Swindon Festival of Literature was encouraging me to walk or run. By Friday, they’re asking me to think too. What else do they want… blood?

The annual takeover of a LitFest night by Swindon Philosophical Society brings us two guest authors, whose books resonate with me for very different reasons. Continue reading →

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Help me make it through the night – John Carey at Swindon Festival of Literature

9 May

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John Carey, ‘The Unexpected Professor’ of his most recent volumes title is less cagey when it comes to sharing his viewpoints about books.

Choosing to open his unabashed hour long delve into why literature is so great with a very recent quote from Michael Rosen, there was little doubt that Carey himself would not be mincing his words, ‘Don’t tell kids what to admire, let kids decide for themselves’. Continue reading →

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Unknown bones in my cutlery drawer – Bee Wilson at Swindon Festival of Literature

8 May

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I rarely consider utensils, they are just there, unless they’re not and then I consider them, I consider them lost or in the washing up.

I don’t consider why they are the way they are or why the Chinese think we’re weird and that the average French kitchen has an array of knives which could easily supply several circus knife throwing professionals. Continue reading →

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DON’T PANIC – David Pearson at the Swindon Festival of Literature

8 May
David Pearson at Swindon Central Library

David Pearson at Swindon Central Library

Is this the end of physical books? This was one of the questions posed by the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries for the City of London, David Pearson, tonight at Swindon Central Library. If it is, don’t panic! said Swindon Festival of Literature Director, Matt Holland. The future is bright, but it may be electronic, not printed. Continue reading →

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Conflicts, but not the one you were expecting – Nigel Jones on Britain in 1914 at Swindon Festival of Literature

7 May

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It’s 100 years, near enough, since Europe was plunged into the most terrible war the world has ever seen, so you’d expect a ‘thinking festival’ like Swindon Festival of Literature to thoroughly explore the subject, which it is – as part of the official Swindon in the Great War commemorations.

Historian Nigel Jones’ discussion around his book Peace and War: Britain in 1914 is the first of three on the topic – the entrée to Kate Adie’s main course of the legacy of women in the Great War (May 12), with dessert coming in the form of Richard Van Emden on boy soldiers (May 15).

It’s fitting that Jones goes first, because his book isn’t really about the war at all, it’s about all the other stuff that was happening at the time – events that were making headlines before Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo; before Germany’s blank cheque assurance to Austria, or Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia; and before the Rape of Belgium.

Jones’ book reminds us there were three conflicts troubling the British government in the run-up to the Great War, and none of them had very much at all to do with European politics. Continue reading →

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