Hexham Book Festival is run as a partnership with Queen’s Hall Arts.

Sick at heart with cuts and taxes? Revive your flagging spirits at the 6th annual Hexham Book Festival with wise, witty and waspish words from some of the UK's best writers. Meet the master of the dark arts of political spin, Alastair Campbell, get your hands dirty with gardener Alys Fowler, join veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg in Hexham Abbey, hear the 2011 Costa Award winner Maggie O'Farrrell on her latest novel and discover why Stalin ate comedian Alexei Sayle's homework.

We've got over a week of cookery, history, poetry, comedy, memoir, contemporary fiction and events for all ages. So come and join us and let words put a spring in your step.

All events at the Queen’s Hall unless specified.

5, 6, 9, 10, 11 May
All events 1.00pm: Words in the Gallery; lunch time readings, talks and music from some of the region’s most talented writers from the Read Regional campaign and beyond.

Thursday 5 May: Beda Higgins will entertain with new stories from her collection Chameleon and poet Marilyn Longstaff performs poetry from her collection, Raiment.
Friday 6 May: Ann Cleeves reads from her new crime novel Silent Voices, the most recent book in the Vera series that has inspired a new ITV drama. Ann will introduce her new book and talk about her life of crime.
Monday 9 May: A special lunchtime treat of words and music as Dan Walsh and Amy Mackelden perform their new work, The Places we call Home, which they originally developed for The Sage Gateshead’s Words & Music Festival in 2010.
Tuesday 10 May: Join us for some crime and adventure at lunchtime. Novelist Dan Smith will be reading from his novels, Dry Season and Dark Horizons. He will be joined by Northumberland’s newest crime writer, Graham Pears who will be reading from A Time for Justice.
Wednesday 11 May: Judy Walker and Eileen Sutherland

All the above events are at the Robinson-Gay Gallery, Hexham
Free but ticket required

Thursday 5th May
5.00pm Melvyn Bragg - SOLD OUT!
Veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg tells the hidden story of one of the world's most influential books, the 300 year old King James Bible, and the often bloody fight to have it translated into English. It's an extraordinary tale of power and influence which has shaped the way we use English today.
At Hexham Abbey
£8.00

7.30pm Maggie O’Farrell
 Maggie O’Farrell unravels the complexities of women's lives like no other writer and exposes the secrets and betrayals that lie buried beneath a family's surface. In her fifth novel and winner of the Costa 2010 prize, "The Hand That First Held Mine' she lays bare love and motherhood in a compelling portrait of two women set in 1950's London. Her perceptive, poetic writing has won her many fans especially amongst book clubs. In conversation with Caroline Beck.
£7.00

8.45pm The Spark: Open mic true story telling
Can you spin a good yarn? Come to 'The Spark' and bare all on a theme of 'True Love' to a word-hungry crowd. Prepare your five minute story beforehand and win love and glory. Writers A L Kennedy and Harry Pearson tell their own true stories then it's down to you.
£4.00 / £2.00 (student)

Friday 6 May
10.00am Josceline Dimbleby 
As the step-daughter of a diplomat Josceline Dimbleby's life was built upon exotic food and living in far-flung places. Her book recreates a rich life with smells, tastes and sights from a lifetime spent travelling. This book is as good to look at as the recipes are to eat. In conversation with Pennie Taylor.
£7.00 (£12.00 for this and Prue Leith’s event)

11.30am Prue Leith
Prue Leith has been at the heart of British cookery for over five decades but in a life devoted to reviving the status of food in the UK she's also found time to write novels as delicious as her recipes. Let her whet your appetite with her recent works, 'The Gardener' and 'A Serving of Scandal'. In conversation with Pennie Taylor.
£7.00 (£12.00 for this and Josceline Dimbleby’s event)

Special Ticket Offer - BOUCHON LUNCH OFFER IS NOW SOLD OUT!
Enjoy both morning events followed by a 2 course lunch and a glass of wine at Bouchon Bistrot (winner of the F-Word’s Best French Bistro 2009) for just £26. Book at the Box Office 01434 652477

7.30pm Antonio Carluccio - CANCELLED - Ticket holders please contact the Box Office.
Antonio Carluccio, the high priest of Italian cooking, goes back to his homeland thirty years after he left for England to convert us all to the pleasure of Italian food. Here he reflects on the real Italy and her rich gastronomy. In conversation with Paolo Arriga from the Italian Seed Company, Franchi.
£10.00

Saturday 7 May
10.30am The Door in the Wall competition
Children’s Short Story spectacular 
The runners up and winning short stories (as chosen by our judge, children’s author Philip Ardagh,) will be brought to life by actor Judi Earl who will also award the prizes in our second short story competition!
Free but ticket required

11.45am Anna Pavord
Gardening correspondent for the Independent since 1986 and award winning writer, Anna Pavord has spent the last thirty years restoring her garden in Dorset. In 'The Curious Gardener', gleaned from her newspaper column, she gives practical as well as philosophical advice on what it takes to create a beautiful garden.
In conversation with Caroline Beck.
£6.00

12 noon – 2.00pm Drop in Storytelling (for children of all ages)
Armchair Journeys with Seven Stories 
Monkey Mayhem; let your cheeky monkeys loose with picture book story times and themed creative activities, brought to you by Seven Stories.
Free

1.00pm Carolyn Jess-Cook Book Launch
Join us for the launch of The Guardian Angel’s Journal, one of the most widely anticipated novels of 2011. Gateshead writer Carolyn’s first book was scooped up by an agent after completing only one chapter. It was then sold in 15 languages before publication here in April.
£3.00 (includes refreshments)

2.00pm Poetry Games with Sky Hawkins, 'The Word Bird'
Sky is an award-winning performance poet, who coached a slam team of young people to regional victory in the 2010 Apples and Snakes Word Cup. Come and have fun with words, rhythms and rhymes. Suitable for children up to 8 years old.
£5.00 / £3.00 (siblings)

2.15pm Read Regional 2011 Launch with New Writing North
Join New Writing North and a host of regional authors to kick off the 2011 Read Regional campaign, the annual programme of activity promoting writers in the North East. Attending the launch will be a mixture of poets and novelists: both familiar names and emerging talent
Free but ticket required

2.30pm Salley Vickers
Love and the torment of the human heart is the subject of much-loved author Salley Vickers' first collection of short stories; ‘Aphrodite’s Hat’. Love lost, craved, withheld, and disappointed are all under the forensic eye of this psychoanalyst-turned-author to create a witty and profound exploration of love in all its aspects. In conversation with Hazel Osmond.
£8.00

3.45pm Lucy Worsley
Hot new TV historian and Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces tunes into domestic gossip in her latest book 'If Walls Could Talk'. She looks at what ordinary people did in bed, at the table, at the stove and in the bath over the last thousand years and gets to the heart of the British obsession with our homes. Accompanies the BBC Television series.
£6.00

5.00pm Allison Pearson
If you've ever swooned at a teenage pop idol then Allison Pearson's novel ‘I think I love you’ is for you. It charts a young girl's crush on pretty-boy David Cassidy and what happens, thirty years later, when our heroine comes face to face with her heart-throb. Prepare to scream yourself hoarse! Calling all Book Groups read the book and enjoy a group discount to this event.
£5.00 (£3.00 Book Group members)

8.00pm Alastair Campbell - SOLD OUT!
Expect controversial views and blunt speaking as Alastair Campbell, once Spinmeister of the Blair administration, reveals more about life at the heart of Government, and beyond it. In the second volume of 'Power and the People' he talks candidly about what life is like at the eye of the political storm.
£12.00 / £10.00 (conc)

Sunday 8 May
11.00am – 1.00pm Practical Drama workshop with Théâtre Sans Frontières 
Explore the process of creating a piece of theatre from an Author’s work. Sarah Kemp and John Cobb from Theatre Sans Frontieres lead a hands on workshop taking as inspiration text from David Almond’s novel ‘Heaven Eyes’ and investigating the dramatic possibilities within the narrative.
£8.00 (£12.00 ticket offer with David Almond & Michael Chaplin event)

11.30am Martin Davidson and Giles Milton
Martin Davidson's grandfather enrolled in Hitler's brutal SS casting a shadow over the family for the next half-century. Giles Milton's Father-in-law lived under the Third Reich where his dreams of becoming an artist sustained him through those terrible years. Both writers uncover intriguing secrets at the heart of their families.
£6.00

1.00pm Want to be a playwright?
Live Theatre’s beaplaywright.com helps budding playwrights to learn the skills of their craft online. The course includes video interviews with award winning writers and discussion forums, interactive exercises and feedback. Join creator Gez Casey for a tour of the website and a demonstration of how the course works.
Free but ticket required

2.15pm David Almond & Michael Chaplin
Award-winning children's writer David Almond has had his books such as 'Skellig' turned into theatre and television. So what's it like to adapt from page to stage or screen? Screen-writer Michael Chaplin (Foyles War and Monarch of the Glen) joins David Almond in talking to actor Jez Casey from Live Theatre about the excitement and pitfalls of adaptation.
£7.00 (£12.00 ticket offer with Drama workshop)

3.30pm Michael Chaplin: Celebrating the silver screen
Celebrating the silver screen; Screen-writer Michael Chaplin's love affair with the Tyneside cinema in Newcastle began in 1968 when, as a hopeful writer and budding journalist, he received his cinematic education. His book tells not only the story of this most romantic of buildings but also the history of cinema over the past 100 years.
At the Forum Cinema
£3.00

4.30pm Andrew Crofts; ghost writer and author, & special screening of ‘The Ghost’
£6.50 / £5.50 (conc) talk and film
At the Forum Cinema
From business gurus to gangsters, celebrity stories to misery memoirs Andrew Crofts has written them all, described as 'frighteningly good' he's one of the country's most successful and prolific ghost writers and yet remains a mysterious figure to the book-buying public. Now he has published a book under his own name; ‘The Change Agent’ Andrew will talk about his book and the issues and mystery surrounding ghost writing with particular reference to the eponymous film.
Tickets from www.forumhexham.co.uk or T: 01434 601144

5.00pm Liz Lochhead
Liz Lochhead; one of Scotland’s best-known poets and dramatists has recently been appointed Scotland’s new Makar. In conversation with John Cobb she will talk about her life and work and reflect on her published poetry and her career as a both a performer and playwright.
£7.00

Monday 9 May
6.00pm A Song of Bellingham with Ann Coburn
A performance reading by children from Bellingham Middle School of a new reminiscence work by Ann Coburn in collaboration with the Bellingham community.
Supported by Big Lottery Awards for All, Northumberland National Park and Keilder Organic meats.
Free but ticketed

Tuesday 10 May
8.00pm Alexei Sayle
Once spittingly angry comedian now national treasure Alexei Sayle was born in Liverpool on the day egg rationing came to an end. In his memoir ‘Stalin Ate my Homework’ he tells of his strange and confusing life via his salad-eating Communist parents, his childhood in Eastern Europe and teenage years as a Maoist revolutionary.
£12.00 / £10.00 (conc)

Wednesday 11 May
Philip Ardagh
Schools Events

Thursday 12 May
Literacy Day
Schools Events

Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 May - CANCELLED
Shepherds Dene: Two day writing retreat led by Gillian Allnutt
Shepherds Dene is an arts and crafts retreat house set in extensive gardens in the beautiful Tyne Valley. ‘Summer is icumen in’ , the earliest and most joyful of English poems is written by Anon. In an age obsessed with identity might anonymity be a pleasure, a way of life worth considering? Work with other writers amongst the nooks, crannies and conversations at this writer’s retreat.
Course cost includes accommodation and all meals; £150 per person (Special Offer £250 for two sharing a room).
Directions from www.shepherdsdene.co.uk 

For more details pick up a festival programme in the foyer or go to www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk