2006 Birmingham Book Festival
The Birmingham Book Festival takes place 4 - 13 October with a packed programme of literary events featuring writers including Julie Walters, Billy Bragg, Richard Dawkins and Simon Armitage.
Willy Russell, novelist, playwright and screenwriter whose plays and films include Blood Brothers, Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita will be visiting the Festival on Friday 6 October to talk about his work as a writer. Star of the film version of Educating Rita, actress Julie Walters, will also be coming to the Festival a week later on Friday 13 October to talk about her first novel Maggie’s Tree. Julie Walters was born in Birmingham and her visit will mark the Birmingham launch of her book.
Songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg visits the Festival on Tuesday 10 October to discuss his book The Progressive Patriot, a personal account of his interest in nationality. The day before, on Monday 9 October, Moazzam Begg will be answering questions about his experiences of being incarcerated in the Guantánamo Bay detention centre. And continuing the theme of politics and faith, on Wednesday 11 October controversial science writer Richard Dawkins will present an uncompromising denunciation of all religions when talking about his new book The God Delusion.
The Festival also features plenty of events that are simply entertainment. Poet and comedian John Hegley makes a rare appearance in Birmingham, performing songs and poems for his new book Uncut Confetti on Friday 13 October. And poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan will be joining forces with composer and performer Christopher Fox to present an evening of Dada inspired sound and text on Wednesday 11 October. And to add an additional element of surprise we have a Mystery Event on Thursday 5 October – ticket buyers will be texted to give them the location and all will be revealed!
Poet Simon Armitage performs poems from his new collection Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid on Thursday 12 October and Birmingham-based poet Roz Goddard will be launching her first full length collection of poetry, How to Dismantle a Hotel Room, on Tuesday 10 October. To celebrate National Poetry Day on Thursday 5 October we will have the inaugural readings by Birmingham’s Poet Laureate 2006/7 and performances from most of the previous ten Birmingham Poet Laureates. BBC Radio Four come to the Festival to present a live broadcast of Poetry Please with Roger McGough on Sunday 8 October.
The Festival will be using a number of unusual venues. Ikon Eastside is the venue for a screening of Half Life, a poetry film made to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The 18th Floor of the Raddisson SAS Hotel is the venue for our first All Night Creative Writing Workshop which will be lead by novelist Mil Millington and which will run from 11.30pm on Saturday 7 October to 6am on Sunday 8th October. Writing workshops will also be taking place on the Narrowboat Saltaire, at The Pen Museum and in the National Trust’s Back to Back Houses on Hurst Street.
Writing workshops are an important part of this year’s Festival, with 18 in total, including a Travel Writing Workshop that will involve real travel around Birmingham and writing workshops on Writing for Books Children, Writing Novels, Writing About Food, Writing Comedy, Writing Short Stories and Writing About Shopping! Most writing workshops will take place on Saturday 7 October.
The Festival opens with our first Book Quiz on Wednesday 4 October, which will also feature readings from our ‘Festival Books’, Mango Shake and Loffing Matters (published by Tindal Street Press). And the Festival closes with Birmingham’s current Poet Laureate, Richard Grant (aka Dreaklockalien) hosting a late night Poetry Slam (a competitive poetry performance) at The Electric Cinema from 11pm on Friday 13 October.
Finally, as a Festival ‘extra’ event we welcome Lionel Shriver, author of We Have To Talk About Kevin on the evening of Thursdsay 26th October.
Events can be booked on 0121 303 2323 / www.birminghambookfestival.org
Workshops can be booked on 0121 246 2770 / info@bookcommunications.co.uk
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