Falmouth Festival of Literature and Arts

	11.00am \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Sarah Dunant In the Company of the Courtesan Another lush and intelligent piece of historical fiction… Dunant is the kind of writer a reader will follow anywhere. (Booklist) In the Company of the Courtesan is set in Venice just a few decades on from The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant’s recent novel which has been the subject of major international acclaim. This is the story of Fiammetta Bianchini, who at 21 is a courtesan of many years standing. The story opens on the brink of the sack of Rome by the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1526, Fiammetta drawing on all her skills to survive with her life and fortune intact. Fleeing penniless, to Venice, she rebuilds her career as a courtesan. This is a story about sin and pleasure, set in one of the world’s greatest cities at its most potent moment in history.
	12.30pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Lucinda Hawksley Katey: The Life and Loves of Dickens’ Artist Daughter Katey Dickens was a nineteenth-century artist and socialite, and the beautiful daughter of Charles Dickens. In this illuminating biography, Lucinda Hawksley, herself Dickens’ great-great-great granddaughter, recreates the life of an extraordinarily determined girl who defied Victorian convention to live and love as an independent woman. The story tells of the turbulent family life that was the Dickens household: her marriage to chronically ailing Charlie Collins, brother of Wilkie; her passionate and very un-Victorian affair with celebrated artist Val Prinsep, and her love for Italian Artist Carlo Perugini. Throughout her life Katey remained active, championing her father’s work and befriending such eminent figures as J.M. Barrie and George Bernard Shaw. Lucinda returns to Falmouth following her success with Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel.
	12.45pm \| Chellew Room \| £4 \| £3.50 [f] [U] Richard D North Mr Blair’s Messiah Politics: Or What Happened When Bambi Tried to Save the World Richard D North works with the Social Affairs Unit, which last year published his Rich Is Beautiful, and now Mr Blair's Messiah Politics. A somewhat controversial yet well-respected commentator and one of the UK's most prominent voices arguing for the merits of the consumer society, North’s latest work focuses on how Tony Blair’s personal sense of mission led him to concentrate power in his own hands: fighting third-world poverty, tackling climate change and toppling tyrranies. The electorate was charmed by his disingenuous earnestness and the institutions of state became subservient to the whims of Number 10. This book tells us how to avoid another Tony Blair and guard against ‘Messiah Politics’ in the future.
	2.00pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Mark Lynas Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World Climate change expert and environmental activist Mark Lynas takes a stark look at the catastrophic effects our actions are having on the planet. The Arctic ice is melting; news is just in on the extent of the ice retreat this summer; how much longer can the Pacific Islands survive? Another Hurricane season is under way! A year on from the disastrous floods and landslides in Europe and from Hurricane Katrina, how has the world recovered? Fragile Earth provides the facts and images that show how the changing world will affect your life. Mark’s 2004 book, High Tide, was long listed for both the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award.
	2.15pm \| Chellew Room \| £3 Peter Stanier Penryn: Granite Exporter to the World Dr Peter Stanier is a writer and authority on the Cornish granite quarrying industry. Born in Cornwall, surrounded by the granite stone industry, he has published a number of books on the subject, including South West Granite and Stone Quarry Landscapes. His talk examines the predominance of the Penryn district as a supplier and shipper of granite to major engineering projects from the early nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. Dr Roger Smithies Memorial Lecture
	3.30pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Chris Stewart The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society finds Chris and his family still at El Valero, their farm on the wrong side of the river in rural Andalucía. And life continues in decidedly oddball fashion. When Chris arrived fifteen years ago, he could never have imagined the locals would invite him to join an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society, nor that he would be spending time shepherding Bostonian art trustees around Seville, or working in an immigrants' advice centre in Granada. In this sequel to Driving Over Lemons and A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, Chris Stewart's optimism and zest for life is as infectious as ever.
	5.00pm \| Theatre \| £4 \| £3.50 [f] [U] Thomas E Downing – Atlas of Climate Change Kate Evans – Funny Weather: Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About Climate Change but Probably Should Find Out Martine McDonagh – I have Waited and You Have Come The theme of climate change is never far from the headlines these days, and here we have three writers approaching the subject in entirely different ways: a novel, a cartoon book, and an atlas. Thomas E Downing’s Atlas of Climate Change maps the dramatic social, economic and biological effects of climate change, as well as considering the solutions urgently needed if we are to avoid global disaster. Britain’s leading environmental cartoonist Kate Evans has been described by the Guardian’s Steve Bell as “one of the most original talents in comics I’ve seen in a long time”. Her full-length comic book explains the scientific principles behind climate change in a fun and accessible way. Meanwhile, former manager of the band, James, Martine McDonagh’s debut novel was born partly out of her frustration that climate change issues were largely being ignored. I Have Waited and You Have Come is her exploration of an alternative vision of the future to that offered by “a silver-suited, technology-driven myth of progress”.
	7.00pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Stephen Clarke Talk to the Snail ‘Ten Commandments for Understanding the French’. "Edgier than Bryson... hits harder than Mayle" – The Times British journalist Stephen Clarke continues to decipher the French for us with a new tongue-in-cheek guide to their quirks and foibles. Having lived in Paris for 14 years he is able to advise on how to scare a Gendarme, survive the French driving experience, live with bacteria, make sure you get served in a café, and swear. His two previous books A Year in the Merde and its sequel, Merde Actually stormed up the bestseller charts. Stephen was short listed for Newcomer of the Year at this years' British Book Awards and is a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Today and has expostulated on national radio about the (suspect) wisdom of President Chirac’s declaration about the English.
	8.30pm \| Salone di Limone, 2 Stratton Terrace, Falmouth (opposite the Greenbank Hotel) \| £8 (includes a glass of wine) A Pleasing Terror: Ghost Stories by M. R. James …If any of my stories succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained… Montague Rhodes James more than succeeded in this modest ambition. Over a century after their first publication, his Ghost Stories of an Antiquary remain the most admired supernatural tales in the English language. The author first performed the stories to friends at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow and later Provost. Now Nunkie Theatre Company has brought two of the eeriest and most entertaining back to life. In Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, a young Cambridge antiquary discovers the dark side of manuscript illumination, in a medieval town in the French Pyrenees. In The Mezzotint a ghoulish revenge is enacted within a work of art, before the helpless eyes of a museum curator in Oxford. Join us (and the resident ghost)... if you dare!

	11.00am \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Sarah Dunant In the Company of the Courtesan Another lush and intelligent piece of historical fiction… Dunant is the kind of writer a reader will follow anywhere. (Booklist) In the Company of the Courtesan is set in Venice just a few decades on from The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant’s recent novel which has been the subject of major international acclaim. This is the story of Fiammetta Bianchini, who at 21 is a courtesan of many years standing. The story opens on the brink of the sack of Rome by the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1526, Fiammetta drawing on all her skills to survive with her life and fortune intact. Fleeing penniless, to Venice, she rebuilds her career as a courtesan. This is a story about sin and pleasure, set in one of the world’s greatest cities at its most potent moment in history.
	12.30pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Lucinda Hawksley Katey: The Life and Loves of Dickens’ Artist Daughter Katey Dickens was a nineteenth-century artist and socialite, and the beautiful daughter of Charles Dickens. In this illuminating biography, Lucinda Hawksley, herself Dickens’ great-great-great granddaughter, recreates the life of an extraordinarily determined girl who defied Victorian convention to live and love as an independent woman. The story tells of the turbulent family life that was the Dickens household: her marriage to chronically ailing Charlie Collins, brother of Wilkie; her passionate and very un-Victorian affair with celebrated artist Val Prinsep, and her love for Italian Artist Carlo Perugini. Throughout her life Katey remained active, championing her father’s work and befriending such eminent figures as J.M. Barrie and George Bernard Shaw. Lucinda returns to Falmouth following her success with Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel.
	12.45pm \| Chellew Room \| £4 \| £3.50 [f] [U] Richard D North Mr Blair’s Messiah Politics: Or What Happened When Bambi Tried to Save the World Richard D North works with the Social Affairs Unit, which last year published his Rich Is Beautiful, and now Mr Blair's Messiah Politics. A somewhat controversial yet well-respected commentator and one of the UK's most prominent voices arguing for the merits of the consumer society, North’s latest work focuses on how Tony Blair’s personal sense of mission led him to concentrate power in his own hands: fighting third-world poverty, tackling climate change and toppling tyrranies. The electorate was charmed by his disingenuous earnestness and the institutions of state became subservient to the whims of Number 10. This book tells us how to avoid another Tony Blair and guard against ‘Messiah Politics’ in the future.
	2.00pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Mark Lynas Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World Climate change expert and environmental activist Mark Lynas takes a stark look at the catastrophic effects our actions are having on the planet. The Arctic ice is melting; news is just in on the extent of the ice retreat this summer; how much longer can the Pacific Islands survive? Another Hurricane season is under way! A year on from the disastrous floods and landslides in Europe and from Hurricane Katrina, how has the world recovered? Fragile Earth provides the facts and images that show how the changing world will affect your life. Mark’s 2004 book, High Tide, was long listed for both the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award.
	2.15pm \| Chellew Room \| £3 Peter Stanier Penryn: Granite Exporter to the World Dr Peter Stanier is a writer and authority on the Cornish granite quarrying industry. Born in Cornwall, surrounded by the granite stone industry, he has published a number of books on the subject, including South West Granite and Stone Quarry Landscapes. His talk examines the predominance of the Penryn district as a supplier and shipper of granite to major engineering projects from the early nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. Dr Roger Smithies Memorial Lecture
	3.30pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Chris Stewart The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society finds Chris and his family still at El Valero, their farm on the wrong side of the river in rural Andalucía. And life continues in decidedly oddball fashion. When Chris arrived fifteen years ago, he could never have imagined the locals would invite him to join an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society, nor that he would be spending time shepherding Bostonian art trustees around Seville, or working in an immigrants' advice centre in Granada. In this sequel to Driving Over Lemons and A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, Chris Stewart's optimism and zest for life is as infectious as ever.
	5.00pm \| Theatre \| £4 \| £3.50 [f] [U] Thomas E Downing – Atlas of Climate Change Kate Evans – Funny Weather: Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About Climate Change but Probably Should Find Out Martine McDonagh – I have Waited and You Have Come The theme of climate change is never far from the headlines these days, and here we have three writers approaching the subject in entirely different ways: a novel, a cartoon book, and an atlas. Thomas E Downing’s Atlas of Climate Change maps the dramatic social, economic and biological effects of climate change, as well as considering the solutions urgently needed if we are to avoid global disaster. Britain’s leading environmental cartoonist Kate Evans has been described by the Guardian’s Steve Bell as “one of the most original talents in comics I’ve seen in a long time”. Her full-length comic book explains the scientific principles behind climate change in a fun and accessible way. Meanwhile, former manager of the band, James, Martine McDonagh’s debut novel was born partly out of her frustration that climate change issues were largely being ignored. I Have Waited and You Have Come is her exploration of an alternative vision of the future to that offered by “a silver-suited, technology-driven myth of progress”.
	7.00pm \| Theatre \| £5 \| £4.50 [f] [U] Stephen Clarke Talk to the Snail ‘Ten Commandments for Understanding the French’. "Edgier than Bryson... hits harder than Mayle" – The Times British journalist Stephen Clarke continues to decipher the French for us with a new tongue-in-cheek guide to their quirks and foibles. Having lived in Paris for 14 years he is able to advise on how to scare a Gendarme, survive the French driving experience, live with bacteria, make sure you get served in a café, and swear. His two previous books A Year in the Merde and its sequel, Merde Actually stormed up the bestseller charts. Stephen was short listed for Newcomer of the Year at this years' British Book Awards and is a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Today and has expostulated on national radio about the (suspect) wisdom of President Chirac’s declaration about the English.
	8.30pm \| Salone di Limone, 2 Stratton Terrace, Falmouth (opposite the Greenbank Hotel) \| £8 (includes a glass of wine) A Pleasing Terror: Ghost Stories by M. R. James …If any of my stories succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained… Montague Rhodes James more than succeeded in this modest ambition. Over a century after their first publication, his Ghost Stories of an Antiquary remain the most admired supernatural tales in the English language. The author first performed the stories to friends at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow and later Provost. Now Nunkie Theatre Company has brought two of the eeriest and most entertaining back to life. In Canon Alberic’s Scrap-book, a young Cambridge antiquary discovers the dark side of manuscript illumination, in a medieval town in the French Pyrenees. In The Mezzotint a ghoulish revenge is enacted within a work of art, before the helpless eyes of a museum curator in Oxford. Join us (and the resident ghost)... if you dare!