Literary Events for the Debenham Arts Festival on 18th & 19th June 2010

Anthony Thwaite, at the centre of English literary life for over 50 years, with a new book, Late Poems, to mark his 80th birthday.

Ann Thwaite, biographer and children’s author, talks about writing her own family history, Passageways.

Sarah Bower, historical novelist, reveals The Tricks of the Historical Fiction Trade, in a writing workshop for all abilities.

Sheila Hardy talks about her new book Arsenic in the Dumplings, a casebook of Suffolk Poisonings. Debenham comes into it.

Benedict Gummer discusses The Scourging Angel, his history of England around the time of the Black Death.

David Bedford, popular children’s author, promises to read primary school children ‘a story guaranteed to make everyone laugh.’

Piper Terrett has a book for our times The Frugal Life: How to Spend Less and Live More. She lived the life, sharing her discoveries in a blog that led to a book.

There is also an oral history project called Half my life ago where anyone who has been associated with Debenham for half their life can tell stories that will be recorded for the archive. These stories will then be taken and edited into multiple streams that will be presented in audio form during the festival

Debenham Street Fair: 20th June (Fathers Day) from 1 – 6pm which will have stalls, music, dancers and a range of different activities for the whole family.

The following weekend is the St Marys Art Exhibition which will provide a space for artists to display and sell their pieces of art.

Drama events
The Pantaloons are putting on Macbeth on Sat 26th June at Sir Robert Hitcham School, Debenham at 5.30pm (picnics welcome).

Animation
Animation will be a key element of the festival this year. This is a fantastic way of allowing creativity to flow and people of all ages are encouraged to become involved. The final products will be showcased in the festival in a manner to be decided as yet. A web presence will be possible and probably a screening of some kind or a player for people to browse in a central location.

Photography
There will be a web based photographic competition called Faces in Places in which entrants will be asked to submit pictures of people in places that are important to them or reflect their lives. The obvious idea would be to photograph people in or outside their home, garden or place of work but that need not be the sole interpretation.

Film
“Tenacity on the Tasman” premiered at the Leicester Square Odeon but is not yet on general release. We have the privilege of screening the film at 8.00pm on Thursday 24th June, at Debenham Community Centre. Olly Hicks, ocean rowing adventurer, had broken three world records by the age of 23 when he rowed across the Atlantic from America to the UK. His film “Virgin Row”, by George Olver, won a prize at the Moscow film festival. Tenacity on the Tasman, also by George Olver, tells the story of Olly’s epic attempt to row the Southern Ocean : As the old mariner would say “below 40 degrees latitude there is no law, below 50 degrees there is no God”.

Music
Music and Arts on the street: on 26 June, musicians and artists will take to the street to offer performance, sound installations, the chance to participate in art projects accompanied by high quality music from artists from across East Anglia. Followed by pub sessions in the evening.

Battle of the Bands: 25 June at Debenham Leisure Centre. Amplitude are organising what is expected to be a very popular event for young local bands. See www.amplitude.org.uk for more details.

Debenham Folk Club: 25 June at the Red Lion from 8pm. Hosted by Debenham’s own Robert Brown Quite possibly the BEST EVER acoustic solo artist performance that I’ve ever seen! DJ Krusher “Classic Rock Magazine” April 2009. Robert’s folk nights bring some of the best folk musicians from across the country to Debenham.

For further details please contact the website on: www.debenhamartsfestival.co.uk