The 2022 Programme

See below for events by date and time


Programme by venue


Programme by speaker

 
Maps

Ways to buy tickets

Tickets for all events are priced as low as possible at £5 except the writing workshops at £15 and Dyad Productions which is a Maltings' production.
Some live events and all Zoom events are free but booking is still essential. Prior booking is much preferred as entry on the day cannot be guaranteed.

Thursday 13 October 2022

9am
10am
11am

Martins the Printers Tours

One of the few remaining book printers and binders left in the UK, Martins produces a wide range of books for both international publishers and first time authors.  The event…

Learn more about this event and book

10am

Tom Murray: Creative Writing Workshop ∼ Place is in the Eye of the Beholder 

  The details of a particular place may seem common to many, but everyone sees or remembers a place differently according to their own emotional narrative. A fiction workshop exploring…

Learn more about this event and book

1pm

Anne Ryland: Poetry Writing Workshop ∼ Painting the Poem

The ekphrastic poem is inspired by another art form, often a painting. Transcending mere description, it is a poetic and imaginative response in which the painting is ‘entered’ and explored.…

Learn more about this event and book

7:30pm

Cabaret of Words

A celebration of the spoken and (occasionally) sung word in this lovely venue. Come along and listen to local writers, poets and performers sharing their creative efforts. This will be…

Learn more about this event and book

Friday 14 October 2022

9am
10am
11am

Martins the Printers Tours

One of the few remaining book printers and binders left in the UK, Martins produces a wide range of books for both international publishers and first time authors.  The event…

Learn more about this event and book

10am

Wendy Joseph QC: Unlawful Killings

∼ Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey Wendy Joseph has just stepped down as one of only a handful of judges qualified to preside over murder trials…

Learn more about this event and book

12pm

Suad Aldarra: I Don’t Want to Talk About Home

I Don’t Want to Talk About Home is not a memoir about war and destruction. It’s not about camps or boats. It’s about the enduring love for a home that…

Learn more about this event and book

2pm

Bea Setton: Berlin

A wry, surprising, piercingly contemporary debut about a young woman who moves to Berlin to escape her demons – and what she finds there. For fans of My Year of…

Learn more about this event and book

4pm

Nine Arches Press Poetry Reading

Jane Burn is a poet and illustrator based in the North East of England. She has won many awards, including the Silver Wyvern at the Poetry on the Lake Festival.…

Learn more about this event and book

6pm

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: House of Music

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason lives in Nottingham and is a former lecturer in English at The University of Birmingham. She has seven children, all of whom are classical musicians and the family…

Learn more about this event and book

7:30pm

Dyad Productions: A Room of One’s Own

Rebecca Vaughan (Dalloway, Orlando, Christmas Gothic, Austen’s Women, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) performs Woolf’s 1928 exploration of the impact of poverty and sexual inequality on intellectual freedom and creativity.  Take…

Learn more about this event and book

Saturday 15 October 2022

10am

Amanda Thomson: belonging ∼ Natural histories of place, identity and home

Rooted in a Scots pinewood in the Highlands of Scotland, belonging is part nature writing, part memoir. Snags are standing dead trees that are so important for the ongoing health…

Learn more about this event and book

Brian Groom: Northerners A History ∼ from the Ice Age to the Present Day 

Northern England, fashioned by waves of migration, invasions and battles, has had a profound impact on European culture and the global economy. Brian Groom, author of the bestselling, Northerners: A…

Learn more about this event and book

Brita Granström & Jonnie Wild: The Fussy Flamingo

  Baby Flamingo is a very fussy eater! “I don’t like flingo weed,” says Baby. “I’m going to find a family that eats something delicious.” This highly interactive session will…

Learn more about this event and book

10:30am

Tidekettle Paper: Paper making demo (morning)

A whistle-stop tour through the history of papermaking from its origins in East Asia to the state-of-the-art teabag machine at Chirnside papermill. Lucy Baxandall will demonstrate Western and Eastern hand…

Learn more about this event and book

12pm

Toby Faber: Faber & Faber The Untold Story

Come on an illustrated tour of one of the twentieth-century’s great literary archives, telling the story of how Faber has survived depression, war and the passing generations to become the…

Learn more about this event and book

Siân Thomas: It’s All Been Rather Extraordinary

Join the actress Siân Thomas (National Theatre, RSC) as she reflects in interview on the excitement of her early life in Stratford, Ontario, her experience on stage and in films, and…

Learn more about this event and book

Storytime at the Library

Come along to the library and enjoy a relaxed storytime session with your little ones in our cosy children’s area. Discover your new favourite stories, explore the space and listen…

Learn more about this event and book

Roddy McDougall: British Speedway

Why is Speedway Britain’s forgotten sport?  Speedway was once Britain’s second most popular sport, filling Wembley Stadium and getting regular coverage in national newspapers. Now crowds are numbered in the…

Learn more about this event and book

1:30pm

Geoff Aird: Within The Walls

Join Geoff Aird in conversation about his debut novel, Within the Walls, a contemporary crime thriller set in Berwick upon Tweed.  Geoff says, ‘Growing up in Berwick I always thought…

Learn more about this event and book

2pm

Bloodaxe Books Poetry Reading

Bloodaxe Books has revolutionised poetry publishing in Britain over four decades. In this session, founder Neil Astley will introduce three Bloodaxe authors. Jo Clement lectures in Creative Writing at Northumbria…

Learn more about this event and book

Daniel Smith: A Short History of the World in 50 Books

The book is a unique emblem of human culture and civilization, providing a record of what it means to be human. So, how did author Daniel Smith choose his selection…

Learn more about this event and book

Emily Haworth-Booth: PROTEST!

Make a comic and change the world Join author-illustrator Emily Haworth-Booth for a short reading from PROTEST! How People Have Come Together To Change the World, followed by a hands-on…

Learn more about this event and book

Tidekettle Paper: Paper making demo (afternoon)

A whistle-stop tour through the history of papermaking from its origins in East Asia to the state-of-the-art teabag machine at Chirnside papermill. Lucy Baxandall will demonstrate Western and Eastern hand…

Learn more about this event and book

3:30pm

Peter Hetherington: Land Renewed

Our greatest challenge? Feeding Britain and preparing for climate change are two key issues – yet there’s no strategy for managing that most precious resource: our land. While the UK…

Learn more about this event and book

4pm

Neil Astley: The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me

Neil Astley presents the ultimate reader’s companion to poetry: 100 classic poems from five centuries with lively “companion” commentaries illuminating each poem – edited by him with the late Brendan…

Learn more about this event and book

Sean Lusk: The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley

Historical fiction with a touch of magic Sean Lusk’s spellbinding debut novel The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley, a Sunday Times historical fiction and Scottish Book Trust book of the…

Learn more about this event and book

7pm

Alexander McCall Smith: An Evening of Sheer Delight

Join world-wide best-selling author and raconteur Alexander McCall Smith for an evening of witticisms, giggles and stories. Find out all the latest goings on in Botswana and the No. 1…

Learn more about this event and book

Sunday 16 October 2022

12pm

Chris Brookmyre: The Cliff House

Jen’s hen party is going to be out of control… She’s rented a luxury cliff house on a private Scottish island. The helicopter won’t be back for seventy-two hours. They…

Learn more about this event and book

12:30pm

Martin Bellamy & Isobel MacDonald: William Burrell

A Collector’s Life Join Martin Bellamy and Isobel MacDonald to discuss William Burrell: A Collector’s Life, a candid and considered view of Sir William Burrell. Based on recent research made…

Learn more about this event and book

2pm

Ann Cleeves: The Rising Tide

Ann Cleeves returns with the 10th in her acclaimed Vera Stanhope series, in which a school reunion turns deadly as the tide rises on Northumbria’s Holy Island.  Ann is the…

Learn more about this event and book

Kathleen Jamie: An Afternoon with the Makar

Spend an hour in the company of Scotland’s Makar, Kathleen Jamie as she reads from her work and discusses poetry, nature, culture, and our national life.  ‘Writing has remained the…

Learn more about this event and book

2:30pm

Douglas Jackson: The Wall

A new beginning at the end of days Historical author Douglas Jackson had lived with the same character for ten years and nine books, but all good things come to…

Learn more about this event and book

3:45pm

Matt Symonds: Hadrian’s Wall

What did Hadrian’s Wall do? The purpose of Hadrian’s Wall remains shrouded in mystery. While Roman writers were remarkably coy about why it was built and what it did, archaeology…

Learn more about this event and book

4pm

James Holland: Brothers in Arms

One Legendary Tank Regiment’s Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day Through compelling eye-witness testimony, and renowned historian James Holland’s expert analysis, Brothers In Arms brings to vivid life the final…

Learn more about this event and book

4:30pm

Elisabeth Wilson with Linda Bankier: The Memoirs of Jock Wilson

∼ A Berwick Boyhood Between the Wars How did a messy pile of unfinished handwritten memoirs become a published book? Join Linda Bankier (archivist) and Elisabeth Wilson (editor) in conversation…

Learn more about this event and book

5:30pm

Trevor Wood: Dead End Street

Trevor Wood’s first novel, The Man on the Street, featuring homeless protagonist, Jimmy Mullen, won the CWA’s New Blood Dagger for best debut and the Crimefest Debut Novel of the…

Learn more about this event and book

7:30pm

Writers in Conversation

In this informal discussion, locally-based writers share thoughts on how they began writing, their creative process and the writing life. Lisa Hobman and Jules Watson are in conversation with Margaret…

Learn more about this event and book