This year the National Centre for Writing has put together a series of literary journeys that will guide you through our exciting City of Literature weekend at Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2019.
With a programme of fresh and original literary voices, along with award-winning writers and publishers, we invite you to celebrate Norwich as a UNESCO City of Literature and a home to writers, thinkers, storytellers and readers. Browse the curated journeys we’ve suggested and book four or more events together to get a £1.50 discount per ticket.
Our first journey, ‘A Literary Look at Contemporary Britain’, will tackle the hot topics of today through the eyes of prize-winning poets, novelists and academics. In a climate where fact and fiction are seemingly blurred, these writers draw on the power of words and literature to get closer to the elusive questions that we are all asking.
Lowborn
– with Kerry Hudson
12.30pm, Friday 24 May, The Adnams Spiegeltent, Chapelfield Gardens, £8
What does it really mean to be poor in Britain today? Born into poverty, Kerry Hudson is now a celebrated novelist who has travelled the world. In Lowborn, she revisits the hardest parts of her childhood and some of the country’s most deprived towns to discover whether anything has changed.
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me
– with Kate Clanchy
4pm, Friday 24 May, National Centre for Writing, Chapelfield Gardens, Dragon Hall, £8
Kate Clanchy, a prize-winning poet, wants to change the world and thinks school is an excellent place to do it. In this interactive event based on her candid, funny and moving new book, she invites you to meet some of the kids she has taught in her 30-year career, and to celebrate this most creative, passionate and practically useful of jobs.
Portrait of an Anxious Nation
– with Tom Bolton and James Meek
11.30am, Saturday 25 May, The Adnams Spiegeltent, Chapelfield Gardens, £8
Since the referendum in 2016, the nation has been split into two; one half dreaming of leaving, the other of remaining. Tom Bolton (Low Country, Vanished City) and James Meek (Private Island, 2015 Orwell Prize winner) have searched the UK landscape for political folk-legends and forgotten stories which may help us to make sense of our tumultuous present.
The Empire Speaks Back
– with Priyamvada Gopal
1pm, Saturday 25 May, The Adnams Spiegeltent, Chapelfield Gardens, £8
Priyamvada Gopal is a senior academic and critical public figure who regularly draws attention to racism and sexism in Britain. Join her for the launch of Insurgent Empire; a timely discussion of empire and an alternative history of our country’s proud tradition of dissent.
Explore the rest of the City of Literature programme >>
Tickets are available from the Norfolk & Norwich Festival website. A discount of £1.50 per ticket will be automatically applied to your basket when you book four or more events together.
