Oundle Literature Festival

Friday 19th April : Peter Murphy talks about his new book "A Higher Duty"    

Peter Murphy was born in 1946. After graduating from Cambridge University he spent a career in the law, as an advocate and teacher, both in England and the United States. His legal work included a number of years in The Hague as defence counsel at the Yugoslavian War Crimes Tribunal. He lives with his wife, Chris, in Cambridgeshire.

A Higher Duty is the first in an exciting new series set in 1960s London, detailing the prejudice and scandals of working at the Bar at this time.

Four barristers in two fiercely competitive chambers represent the opposing sides of a bitter divorce. Intrigue, hypocrisy, blackmail and long concealed murder result in a deadly game of double bluff.

Peter’s own experiences obviously add greatly to the atmosphere and accuracy of the book. His work has been compared to the BBC drama Silk and ITV's Kavanagh QC.

Peter Murphy is at St Peter's Church, Oundle at 7.30pm on Friday 19th April. 

Anne de Courcy tells us about her latest book "The Fishing Fleet: Husband Hunting in the Raj" - Friday 3rd May  
 
Anne de Courcy is a well-known writer, journalist and book reviewer. In the 1970s she was Woman’s Editor on the London Evening News until its demise in 1980, when she joined the Evening Standard as a columnist and feature-writer. In 1982 she joined the Daily Mail as a feature writer, with a special interest in historical subjects, leaving in 2003 to concentrate on books, on which she has talked widely both here and in the United States.

The Fishing Fleet was the name given to the countless young ladies that travelled to India during the Raj in search of excitement and adventure.

A hectic social life greeted them on arrival, with tiger-shooting, parties and balls, and with men outnumbering women four to one, romances and marriages were frequent – but after the honeymoon life often changed dramatically.

Anne de Courcy explores the reality of life for these young adventuresses on the other side of the world, and with the help of diaries and letters rescued from attics she brings this forgotten era vividly to life.

Anne de Courcy is at St Peter's Church, Oundle at 7.30pm on Friday 3rd May.


 

Saturday 18th May : Jason Lewis, explorer and author, who will be talking about the first human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth, described in his trilogy "The Expedition".         

Jason Lewis is an award-winning adventurer, author, and sustainability activist specializing in human-powered expeditions.

In 2007, he became the first person to circumnavigate the Earth without using motors or sails: walking, cycling, and inline skating five continents, and kayaking, swimming, rowing, and pedalling a boat across the rivers, seas, and oceans. Taking thirteen years to complete, the 46,505-mile journey was hailed “the last great first for circumnavigation” by the Sunday Times.

Jason will be talking about his new book which is called "Dark Waters" and is the first part of a trilogy entitled "The Expedition".

During his journey he survived a terrifying crocodile attack off Australia’s Queensland coast, blood poisoning in the middle of the Pacific, malaria in Indonesia and China and acute mountain sickness in the Himalayas. He was hit by a drunk driver and left for dead with two broken legs in Colorado and incarcerated for espionage on the Sudan-Egypt border Sudan-Egypt border…

“An epic journey that few can rival… I admire Jason's tenacity so much.” Bear Grylls

Jason Lewis is at St Peter's Church, Oundle at 7.30pm on Saturday 18th May.
Tickets £7 (£5) from Oundle Box Office 01832 274734

Any queries about specific events, please contact Helen Shair at oundlelitfestival@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01832 274134.

See the full programme and past events at www.oundlefestival.org.uk
 

Oundle Festival of Literature - Latest Events

Oundle Festival of Literature has recently appointed a new festival manager, Helen Shair, and she is planning a varied and stimulating programme of all year round events. Here are the latest events:

Saturday 6th October, 7.30pm Queen Victoria Hall, Oundle

Fiva: An Adventure That Went Wrong is the epic true account from Gordon Stainforth of a near-death experience on a mountain in Norway in 1969. Two teenage twin brothers with only three years’ mountaineering experience set off to climb one of the highest rock faces in Europe.

With just two bars of chocolate, some sandwiches, a four-sentence route description and an old sketch map, they left their tent early one morning with the full expectation of being back in time for tea. Within a few hours things had gone badly wrong, they were looking death in the face, and the English Home Counties seemed very far away...

Alternatively humorous and nerve shredding, Fiva captures the hope, love, terror and despair of climbing. Gordon will re-tell his story at this event, a story which has been likened to Joe Simpson’s best-selling Touching the Void.

Tickets are £7 from the Oundle Box Office, Tel 01832 274134 Online at www.oundlefestival.org.uk



Saturday 10th November, 7.30pm St Peter's Church, Oundle

Polly Toynbee “Dogma and Disarray” Cameron at half-time

Coming from a long line of intellectuals, historians, and literary critics, Polly Toynbee won a scholarship to study History at Oxford. Her first job was at the Guardian where she built a reputation for accurate fact finding left of centre journalism. With her partner, Journalist David Walker, she wrote two books, Life in Low Pay Britain and The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? Their new book Dogma and Disarray looks in detail at the government’s policies during their first two years in power. Toynbee and Walker argue that by the next election the welfare state may be in irrecoverable ruins – unless the Tory mission to downsize and diminish the public realm is brought down first by Cameron’s incompetence.

Tickets are £10, (£8 for OAPs and Students) from the Oundle Box Office, Tel 01832 274134 Online at  www.oundlefestival.org.uk . Available from the end of September.