THE INDEPENDENT BATH LITERATURE FESTIVAL
2-11 March 2012
A celebration of the written word:
intelligent; thought provoking; humane.

“I’m delighted that 2012 will see the first Independent Bath Literature Festival. Some of the biggest names in literature today will be speaking at the festival, in one of the best settings in Britain. I’m looking forward to entertaining, informative and provocative sessions.”
David Lister, Arts Editor, The Independent

“The core ideals of the Bath Literature Festival are quality, intelligence, humour and integrity. These aspirations are shared with The Independent. It’s a perfect meeting of minds and I am confident that this exciting new partnership will benefit both readers and audiences alike. The Independent Bath Literature Festival 2012 will tackle key literary, cultural and political ideas with sprightliness and enthusiasm. Join us”.
James Runcie, Artistic Director

Artistic Director James Runcie unveils his
3rd programme for Bath.

Packed with over 200 events covering a broad spectrum of interests and disciplines, The Independent Bath Literature Festival 2012 will unfold over ten, tantalising, early spring days, in and around the UNESCO World Heritage City.

In this Olympic year, bigger and bolder than ever before, with The Independent as Title Sponsor and Sky Arts as Broadcast Partner, Bath flexes its cultural muscles and explores not just the latest but the best the literary world has to offer.

This year’s festival sets out to explore subjects as diverse as Art and Architecture, Politics and Money Matters, the Greeks and the Olympic Ideal, Science and Enquiry, the Craft of Writing and the History of Women.

Confirmed festival highlights include exclusive appearances by novelists William Boyd and Tony Parsons, both appearing on The Sky Arts Bookshow with Mariella Frostrup. The astounding line up continues with some of the finest writers of contemporary fiction and cutting edge thinkers: Tariq Ali, Jim Al Khalili, Joan Bakewell, Alain de Botton, Evan Davis, Carol Ann Duffy, Sarah Dunant, Nadine Gordimer, Susan Greenfield, Michael Holroyd, Simon Jenkins, Alexander McCall Smith, Jeremy Paxman, Katharine Quarmby, Sandi Toksvig, Claire Tomalin, Salley Vickers and A.N. Wilson.

Audiences young and old are invited to experience the various strands through workshops, talks, discussion and debate and a stimulating year-round Learning and Participation programme runs alongside the festival. The festival opens on Friday 2nd March with Voices in The City: a day-long programme of free literary events taking place in venues all over Bath and beyond. It culminates with a gala evening at the city’s Guildhall: a screening of Buster Keaton’s silent film College featuring live and spontaneous musical accompaniment.

We mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Dickens with an eclectic series of events throughout the festival. Building on the resounding success of last year’s public reading of the King James Bible, this year’s festival gives the same treatment to two Dickens classics and calls for volunteers to sign up and read aloud. The hugely popular writer and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh reads the first chapter of David Copperfield on Friday 2nd March.

On Thursday 8th March, we invite the public to participate in the 100th International Women’s Day by choosing and reading the work of 100 women and, as part of the strand chronicling the history of women, Harriet Walter, Stella Rimington, Esther Freud and Joanna Briscoe will all talk about their latest works.

Twenty years after her death, we examine in detail the creative genius of Angela Carter, who lived and worked in Bath. Susannah Clapp, Carmen Callil, Helen Simpson, Michele Roberts and Ali Smith bring authoritative understanding to the range and diversity of Carter’s talent.

We are joined by National Trust Director General Fiona Reynolds and Tristram Hunt MP to mark the centenary of the death of Octavia Hill: social reformer and co-founder of this great British institution.

This year’s Big Bath Read could not be more timely: Libyan writer Hisham Matar joins James Runcie to talk about life lived under Gaddafi and his novel In the Country of Men.

INDEPENDENT VOICES – Bath Festival Debates

The festival’s trademark lunchtime debates will be as lively and controversial as ever, tackling national and global issues that affect us all. In 2012, we collaborate with our new Title Sponsor in Independent Voices and with commentators, politicians and journalists including: David Aaronovitch, Anne Atkins, Melissa Benn, Neil Blair, Alex Brummer, Don Foster MP, Claire Fox, Alan Little, Paul Mason, Joan Smith and the Editor of The Independent Christ Blackhurst we ask: Why are we so neurotic about food? Is the NHS sacred? Has sexual freedom ruined our children? Are books doomed? What should we do with our money? Are universities worth the money? Are politicians and the media as bad as each other?