UEA Literary Festival - Richard Holmes

I should probably put my interest in history into some kind of context so that I can explain why I was so delighted to be going to see Richard Holmes speak at the UEA last night. I love history. There. It's out. I studied British and European medieval history for my degree so many years ago and the one thing that I really regret is that I just did not realise how lucky I was to have access to such incredible learning resources. What it did leave me with was a lasting regard for those who can spend years researching people and events and then presenting their work in an engaging manner.

The introduction that Richard Holmes was given last night could not have been more glowing with Prof. Chris Bigsby describing his latest book, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, which took nine years to research and write, as "spectacularly brilliant" and "demonstrating such skill and artistry" that it deserved to win every award going or there was no point in having them. High praise indeed!

In an engaging and entertaining presentation, Holmes described his book as weighing 0.958kg, 5 cm thick, having 483 pages including 69 "glorious" colour illustrations, featuring 64 writers and scientists and containing over 300 lines of romantic poetry". He was keen to emphasise that the "cast" of 64 includes several women as he wanted to bring them back to their "proper place" in history.

The lecture focused on three of the main characters that hold the thread of this book together - Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook's first Endeavour voyage and later President of the Royal Society in London, the astronomer William Herschel and the chemist Humphry Davy who is probably best known for the Davy safety lamp.

He explained that his aims when writing the book were firstly to de-bunk the myth of Arts v. Science and to demonstrate that in this period they worked closely together and inspired each other. He also wanted to explore the concept of a group biography which he described as a "relay race of scientific stories" and finally (the clue is in the title for this one) to explore the romantic generations discovery of both the beauty and terror of science and to try to understand the roots of why most people now have an ambiguous feeling towards science.

This book sounds absolutely fascinating and really I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy. Richard Holmes ended the event by stressing his belief that, as citizens of the world, we all have a duty to make and effort to understand the science of our day and help to shape the decisions being made that will impact our socio-political lives (such as GM food, Climate Change, etc). A call to arms indeed so I'll be looking out for local lectures so that I can brush up as I left feeling slightly guilty that I make no real effort to understand the science behind the stories.

Links to reviews of Age of Wonder in the Literary Review, the Independent and the Times.

UEA Literary Festival - Toni Morrison

Last night I had the absolute privilege of watching Toni Morrison read from her latest book, A Mercy, and the answer questions from the audience as well as those posed by Prof. Chris Bigsby.Perhaps most famous for Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, Morrison is also the holder of a Nobel Prize for literature and this was her third visit to the UEA.

The introduction centred on the theme of slavery and oppression and this seemed very appropriate as the excerpt that she read out was set in 1690, two years before the Salem witch trials, and featured a young black slave Forens, who (as far as I know) is one of the book's central characters. A book from this era struck me as a particularly apt choice given this event was part of the Arthur Miller centre's lecture series and his The Crucible is such an incredibly powerful piece of work. I digress...

In the conversation that followed the reading, she was very softly spoken, was possessed with enormous dignity but also seemed a little weary - she'd appeared at the Cheltenham Festival earlier in the week. One thing that really struck me was how important the choice of precise language seemed to be to her and she described "writing for the ears as well as the eyes" which really encapsulates what I am trying to explain when I say that.

I also could not resist buying a copy of the book for her to sign and I am delighted that I did as somehow I feel like it's a permanent momento of this evening. At some stage I really must post about why a signed book is more important to me than a not-signed one but I am not sure I can crystalise those thoughts just yet. In the meantime, here's an interview with Toni Morrison, talking about A Mercy, with a slightly unfortunate YouTube freeze-frame. Enjoy.

UEA Literary Festival - Cherie Blair

This is my first post from the "THE ARTHUR MILLER CENTRE INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL, AUTUMN 2008 " line-up. In the future, I shall be referring to this event as the UEA LitFest as that's much easier on the fingers.

As I was sitting on the front row, in my full black tie glory, I decided not to whip out my battered notebook and jot notes during the conversation that Cherie had with UEA Professor Chris Bigsby however I did scribble some pretty indecipherable thoughts as soon as they'd finished as we were queuing to leave the Lecture Theatre.

My scrawled comments include the following:

• Has Sony e-reader.
• Lifelong love of books.
• Great shoes!
• Has future plans to write biography on "strong women".

All very insightful, I am sure you will agree... I've not read her autobiography, Speaking for Myself, however the interview took the form of a gentle conversation that covered her life history to date. I left, after an hour, feeling that I don't actually have an insight into what this, clearly very clever, woman is actually doing and what makes her tick. I feel that it's a shame that she didn't use this as a platform to explain what she's been up to in a context other than being an ex-PM's wife although I am sure that's what sells the book.

Her website is happy to give me glimpses of what the event could have been about (the many causes she supports, her views on human and women's rights, cases she's been involved in...). An example is that when she was asked for her views, as a practicing catholic, on women working as priests, she replied that she would soon be giving a speech at the Vatican on this very topic. But we never found out what her stance is. Why not? I do, however, appreciate that this is a Literary festival so perhaps that was out of scope.

The event was followed by a very lovely gala dinner, which I attended as my father's guest, at The Sainsbury's Centre to celebrate the University's 45th Birthday and announce the appointment of four Jubilee Professors to help to steer the University in the right direction as it approaches its 50th Birthday. Present at the dinner were the great and the good of Norfolk (and me!) and I had a really delicious meal that included a scrumptious pan-fried quail breast on a wild mushroom fricassee and spiced monkfish on sweet potato bombay. I gather Mr B ordered in pizza. :)

UEA Autumn Literary Festival Lineup

The line up for the University of East Anglia's Autumn 2008 Literary Festival has now been released and I'm having trouble working out who to go and see.  

Of course, I could just go and see everyone but where's the fun in that?  As I have never attended any kind of LitFest events, I don't want to miss out on known good speakers or on an author who I might not have heard of but I should.

I already know that I'm off to see Cherie (an aside, I thought she went by Booth) Blair open the series on the 29th September because my Dad's taking me.  I'm under very, very strict instruction not to gesticulate wildly at the black tie dinner afterwards however...*  

I am toying with my final shortlist being Cherie Blair, David Lodge, David Guterson, Toni Morrison, Richard Holmes and possibly Sebastian Barry.  Am I missing out if I restrict myself to just those six?  Should I be going to Geraldine Brooks, David Hare and Jung Chang too?  I suspect that I should have heard of and read something by Geraldine Brooks, based on her write-up on the UEA site, and I did read Wild Swans a few years ago and thought it was very interesting so perhaps I should add in those two as well.  But then that would leave David Hare out. Which would be very tragic.

Bother - half of me just thinks that I might as well go to them all at this rate!  Suggestions and recommendations very welcome.

*The scene: A posh restaurant.

The Occasion: Dad's 60th Birthday celebration dinner.

The Incident: I am talking to people my left, gesticulate and to my right, a large glass of red wine appears on Dad's lap via suit jacket...  Eep.