Bath Literature Festival 2010 Programme Announced
The new artistic director of Bath Literature Festival has taken the wraps off his first programme and promises no ordinary book festival.
James Runcie has said that his intention is simply to ‘make Bath the most intelligent, most humane and most thought-provoking Literature Festival in the UK’. In order to achieve this James has 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; A S Byatt; Michael Frayn; Claire Tomlin and Rose Tremain to name just a few.
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 – for example, Adam Zamoyski on Chopin and Mary Beard on The Roman Triumph.
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.
The festival runs from Saturday 27th February until Sunday March 7th 2010. For bookings contact Bath Festivals Box Office on 01225 463362 or visit http://www.bathlitfest.org.uk/.
