Cheltenham

[coalescent]

I managed to exercise willpower right up until I discovered that people under 25 get half-price tickets to most events at this year's Cheltenham festival of literature. Now I just keep finding more things that I want to go to.

Saturday 9th October 19:15
Alan Garner

Sunday 10th October 11:45
Francis Wheen and Francis Spufford

Tuesday 12th October 18:00
Iain Sinclair, Michael Foot and Bryan Appleyard discuss HG Wells

Friday 15th October 16:15
Beryl Bainbridge and Paul Bailey discuss writing male and female characters.

Saturday 16th October 14:00
Michael Palin

Saturday 16th October 16:00
Greg Dyke

Saturday 16th October 19:15
India: past, present and future with Siddharth Dhanvant Shangvi, Deoborah Moggach and Ian McDonald.

...and there's plenty more. Full programme here. So ... who's interested?

Comments

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

Wow. Alan Garner.

Also quite tempted by the two Francises and Ian McDonald. But Garner is definitely the most exciting.

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

And Doris Lessing is on on the same day as Garner.

Damn you and your tempting ways!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

There's too many to choose properly! And they're all on different days, of course. And I'm taking too much leave in October already. I think I'll end up going for friday 15th - sunday 17th ... but that misses at least three things I'd really like to see. Hmph! :)

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

See, I was thinking 9th - 10th might be best. Garner and Lessing on Saturday, then Wheen and Spufford on Sunday morning.

(Or I could not spend money and stay at home.)

[colours.livejournal.com]

Do you have endless amounts of leave? :-p

And I want to see the poetry stuff, but then you already know this.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Well, I hadn't spotted Lessing. So, thanks, I'm all conflicted now. :-p

In theory I could do both, I suppose ...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Do you have endless amounts of leave? :-p

Sadly not. If I did, life would be much simpler. :-p

However, I haven't used much of this year's allocation yet. It all seems to be mounting up in October ... but if I'm taking a week at the end of the month plus the best part of a week at the start, my chances of getting more days around the middle of the month are slim-to-none. I might wangle a friday or monday, but I doubt I can get away with much more than that. Which, unfortuantely, limits me to the weekends when it comes to the festival.

And I want to see the poetry stuff, but then you already know this.

I did, but you didn't say which days the events you were after were ...

[hano.livejournal.com]

Iain Sinclair. Arse, I'm out of the country.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow ... Alan Garner indeed ... I very, very badly want to hear this presentation, and he seems to be totally, utterly failing to be performing on this side of the country.

[colours.livejournal.com]

Looks like 12th to 15th, but I think my leave is in the dying embers. Depends on other things tho, of course. Sometimes I miss just getting paid by the hour (except that then you don't get the wonder of paid leave).

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

The Ian McDonald India thing looks good, but who the hell is Alan Garner?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

who the hell is Alan Garner?

An author who I haven't read, who I'm meaning to read, and who inspires fanatical loyalty. Quick! Hide before they notice you! Before it's too late!

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

He's mostly written books for Young Adults (titles like The Weird Stone of Brisingamen, Elidor, Red Shift, The Owl Service) but has also written for adults too (his latest, Thursbitch).

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Maybe Friday the 15th, then? Worth thinking about.

I think on balance paid leave is better than paid by the hour. It feels more secure. It's mine and they can't take it away from me! :)

[scribeoflight.livejournal.com]

Iain Sinclair, cool; but Iain Sinclair talking about H. G. Wells... Wow.

I think I'll be very much working, sadly - no holiday allowed after September...

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

...

What were you doing as a child to not read Elidor? I was scared by noises at the front door for months!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

It's not just Garner; I barely read any children's sff. No Susan Cooper, no Diana Wynne Jones. I was off reading Willard Price and Arthur Ransome ... it wasn't until my early teens that I discovered sf, and then it was the Asimov/Clarke route all the way.

Elidor

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that in junior school. Something about kids getting whisked off to Fairie? S'alright I guess.

[colours.livejournal.com]

Arthur Ransome is far more important than SF anyway.

/needless controversy

;o)

[colours.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I am particularly interested in that writing male and female characters talk.

Re: Elidor

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Bunch of kids go into a church and get whisked off to the magical land of Elidor. Then they come back and weird stuff happens with a ouija board and then it all ends up with them chasing a unicorn through Manchester.

It's one of those books I don't want to read again for fear that reading it as an adult will reveal it to be far worse and less magical than half-remembered fragments from when I was little.

[snowking.livejournal.com]

WILLARD PRICE FUCKING ROCKS, YO!

[tizzle-b.livejournal.com]

Yay! I finally identify one your[1] literary references.

Although, however, I do identify it by remembering the TV show and not the book at all, so each to their own. I suppose the TV thing was more 'my' time than you lot however.

[1] You know who You are!

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

I saw the TV show too. In fact, the casting director for the show lived a couple of doors down from me, so I felt obliged to watch it. And it was partly set and made in Manchester (my home town) so I felt doubly obliged.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

See this? This is me refusing to rise to the bait.

Still refusing.

Not gonna rise.

Nu-uh.

... dammit!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Hey, hey, easy. Nobody here is dissing th' Price.

[snowking.livejournal.com]

Just reprazentin', fo sheezy.

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

'Writing male and female characters' and the talk on India look interesting. *sigh* I need a transporter......

cheltenham

[(Anonymous)]

hi everybody - i'm the organiser of the cheltenham festival and just stumbled across your site while looking for something completely different - so excited that people are interested!

as you all seem particularly keen on the SF side of the festival, you might be interested in the fact we actually have a three-hour workshop on SF Writing, led by Ian McDonald, on the afternoon of Saturday 16 Oct. The normal price for our workshops is £18, but I'd be happy to do half-price tickets for LiveJournal users so it's just £9 for a three-hour workshop.

Just call 01242 227979, or turn up at the festival on the day, and mention you're a LiveJournal user.

see you there!
adam pushkin, festival organiser