Daytime sessions in the Red Room 6th March
A whole day of readings, talks, presentations, discussions and opportunities to get involved with creative writing at all levels.
Tickets options are
– £30 for an all day ticket (all 5 sessions throughout the day)
– £8 per session
All tickets subject to availability. We will try not to allow changes to the programme to occur, but things happen, and your understanding in that circumstance is appreciated 🙂
In the Red Room
11:00 – 12:00
Suzanne Joinson
The Museum of Lost and Fragile Things
the-museum-of-lost-and-fragile-things
Suzanne Joinson grew up in a 1980s council estate in Crewe, where her parents were followers of The Divine Light Mission cult. This clash of class and counterculture destroyed her family, leaving a legacy of turmoil and poverty.
Years later, she attempts to reclaim what she’s lost and piece together the impact of a childhood infused with esoteric yoga practices, psychedelic encounters, and meditation techniques. She acquires replicas of beloved objects that had to be destroyed in regular purges in the hope of restoring family ties.
The Museum of Lost and Fragile Things explores the realm of mother-daughter relationships and inherited trauma, in a moving, delicately-woven account of coming to terms with a complicated past.
‘Inspiring and heartbreaking’ – Lily Dunn
‘A beautifully written testament to mercy’ – Jade Angeles Fitton
‘A gripping portrait of a life, a relationship, a mind as it stretches and stretches’ – Dr Noreen Masud
‘Riveting, sad . . . triumphant’ – Jen Calleja
‘A beautiful book’ – Stella Duffy
‘Gripping and heartbreaking’ – Lulah Ellender
12:30 – 1:30
John Godfrey
The Women’s Land Army
In this country, women did not fight in battle, but they joined the auxiliary forces (WRNS, WAAF & ATS), worked in munitions factories and children’s nurseries, and on the land, taking the place of male farm workers called to the colours. The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was run nationally by Lady Denman from her home at Balcombe Place, Haywards Heath and by September 1943, 4,000 ‘Land Girls’ were employed on Sussex farms, market gardens and woods. My talk will examine how the WLA was run, how women were recruited, trained, clothed, equipped and deployed, and will assess what contribution the WLA in Sussex made to maintaining food supplies to the population of this country in the face of German submarine activity in the Atlantic, and to the enhancement of the role and status of women in British society.
Professor Philip Robinson, former Vice-Chancellor of Chichester University, has agreed to be my “informed interviewer”.
2:00 – 3:00
Sue Stuart-Smith
The Well Gardened Mind
Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, graduated in English literature at Cambridge University before going on to train as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She currently works for DocHealth, a not-for-profit service that helps doctors suffering from stress and burnout.
Her bestselling book, The Well Gardened Mind, published in 2020 was a Times and Sunday Times book of the year. It has since been translated into eighteen languages. Along with her husband Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer, she has founded a not for profit initiative called The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity and Health which incorporates a Plant Library and is based in an old orchard at their home in Hertfordshire.
Sue will be interviewed by Andrea Field, an integrative psychotherapist working in private practice in Arundel.
3:30 – 4:30
Chris Hare
Richard Jefferies
Today we are used to science fiction novels and apocalyptic Hollywood movies, but where did the genre begin? With Jules Verne or H.G. Wells? Or perhaps with Richard Jefferies, the Wiltshire-born writer of the English countryside, who died at Goring-by-Sea in West Sussex at the early age of 38? Jefferies 1883 novel, ‘After London’ imagined an England of the future that had been devastated by an environmental disaster, leading to the depopulation of London and the abandonment of all England’s town and cities. Jefferies’ description of how nature reclaims all that industrialisation had created, is both vivid and extraordinary, showing the vulnerability of all that had seen permanent.
The talk will also include extracts from Jefferies essays on the countryside, country people, and his withering account of urban life in the rapidly growing town of Brighton and Hove in the the mid-1880s, where Jefferies lived before moving to Goring. Jefferies was also something of a philosopher as is apparent in his soulful autobiography, ‘The Story of My Heart’, which addresses many issues and concerns very relevant to our own times.
5:00 – 6:00
Tristan Gooley
The Wonderful World of Natural Navigation
Discover how natural navigation can enrich all our journeys, large and small. Bestselling author, explorer and natural navigator, Tristan Gooley, takes us on solo crossings of the Atlantic in a small yacht and a light aircraft and reveals how these journeys led to a career searching for signs in nature. Tristan explains how we can navigate using the sun, moon, stars, weather, plants and animals and how he has used these ancient techniques in the desert, the jungle, up mountains, in cities, on oceans and in the English countryside.
See also…
Friday daytime sessions 11am – 6pm in the Red Room – click here for full details
Saturday daytime sessions 11am – 6pm in the Red Room – click here for full details
Evening concerts 7:30pm – 10pm
Thursday evening film 7:30pm in the Red Room – The Importance Of Being Earnest
Friday evening concert 7:30pm in the Red Room – click here for full details
Saturday evening concert 7:30pm in the Red Room – click here for full details
In The Studio
Poetry workshop with Robyn Bolam
2:00pm – 4:30pm : £20
Writing poems that will stand out.
This workshop will explore ways to write distinctive poems by surprising your reader with language, form or subject approach. It will use prompts and examples to open doors in your imagination.
Robyn Bolam is an award-winning poet and former Hampshire Poet Laureate. She has published four poetry collections with Bloodaxe and her other publications include an anthology of 500 years of women’s poetry. www.robynbolam.com
Suitable for beginners to experienced writers
Maximum of 10 participants, please book in advance.
In The Green Room
Orientation desk explaining what’s available and when.
Ticket office taking cash and card payments.
Book stall selling signed copies of each contributor’s books. Cash and cards accepted.
Breakout area serving tea and coffee. Bring your own buns!
Volunteers
If you’d like to be involved in any way with the day as a volunteer please email events@thevictoriainstitute.com.