SEVENOAKS LITERARY CELEBRATION 2007
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28 SEPTEMBER - 7 OCTOBER 2007

 

Tickets & Brochures are now available at the Sevenoaks Bookshop

 

 

WHAT’S ON

 

2007 is the sixth year of Sevenoaks Literary Celebration, when once again we will be offering a full 10-day programme with a wide variety of literary events to be held in and around Sevenoaks.  The 2006 Sevenoaks Literary Celebration was the most successful ever, attracting full houses to most events and much critical appreciation.  Speakers included Lionel Shriver, John Mullan and Malorie Blackman, and the festival closed with a Dickens Day with John Sutherland as key speaker.  Local associations were not forgotten with a talk on Samuel Palmer’s literary associations and the ever-popular Weald Literary Walk.

 

This year’s Sevenoaks Literary Celebration will open on 28 September with a discussion between Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith and The Night Watch, and John Mullan, doyen of literary interviews for The Guardian.  Participants on 29 September can enjoy Kathryn Hughes’ talk on Mrs Beeton and an afternoon tea, followed by Juliet Nicolson’s talk The Perfect Summer in the evening. On Sunday 30 September there will be the first of our special events, an evening of poetry held in the magnificent surroundings of Penshurst Place in the company of award-winning poets Daljit Nagra and Ruth Padel.  Speakers during the week will include Gillian Tindall and Jerry White on writing London’s history, Ann Wroe on Being Shelley and a Chinese literary lunch with speaker Xinran Xue, author of The Good Women of China. Local speakers, local historian Monty Parkin and ex-Tonbridge School teacher and author Jonathan Smith, will also be giving talks. The festival’s final weekend will feature a sparkling Saturday evening hearing about Emma Hamilton and her Attitudes, with speaker Kate Williams and the Lady Grey dancers, followed on Sunday 7 October by our final special event, the Weald Literary Walk, with readings and afternoon tea.

 

Full details of the 2007 Programme, with venues, dates and times, and ticket prices, can be found by clicking the Programme tab to the left of this text.

 

  • Sarah Waters in conversation with John Mullan
  • The Real Mrs Beeton, with Katherine Hughes (includes afternoon tea)
  • Juliet Nicolson on 'The Perfect Summer:  Dancing into Shadow'
  • A Literary Lunch with Xinran, and 'The Good Women of China'
  • Ann Wroe on 'Being Shelley'
  • Gillian Tindall and Jerry White on Writing London History
  • Kate Williams on Emma Hamilton and her Attitudes, the the Lady Grey Dancers
  • Jonathan Smith on Taking Liberties with Real Lives:  Literary and Moral Dilemmas
  • Monty Parkin on a vanished way of Life on the North Downs 'On East Hill'

SPECIAL EVENTS

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Poetry at Penshurst, with readings from Daljit Nagra and Ruth Padel
Sunday 30 September, 6 pm at Penshurst Place

We hope many people, poetry lovers especially,  will be interested in attending our two Special Events, held outside the town of Sevenoaks. Poetry at Penshurst will feature two exciting poets, Daljit Nagra, acclaimed new poet and winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, and Ruth Padel, one of today’s best writers and speakers on poetry. Daljit and Ruth will be reading from their works and entertaining their audience in the magnificent surroundings of Penshurst Place, once the home of Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney. This promises to be a memorable evening, so book early. 

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Weald Literary Walk with readings and tea
Sunday 7 October, 2.30 pm meet at Weald Memorial Hall

Our second Special Event, the Weald Literary Walk, will be held by popular demand for a fourth year, and is always a sell-out. Local Weald resident and poet Gilly Moysey will lead an afternoon ramble through the pretty village of Weald and its environs. Weald has been home to a surprising number of writers including Edward and Helen Thomas, W.H. Davies, Arthur Koestler and Vita Sackville West. We hope to be able to visit the beautiful garden of Long Barn, Vita’s home with her husband Harold Nicolson for many years. It will be followed by readings and a delicious home-baked tea .

 

SEVENOAKS LITERARY CELEBRATION 2007