Magdalene College's celebration of A Year in Literature will be launched this evening (5 October) with a reading from Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and a talk by the Festival's Honorary Director, the acclaimed poet John Mole.
Magdalene College's celebration of A Year in Literature will be launched this evening (5 October) with a reading from Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and a talk by the Festival's Honorary Director, the acclaimed poet John Mole.
A Year in Literature will run throughout the academic year 2005-6 and will feature more than 50 events ranging from readings, performances and talks to discussions, workshops and schools projects.
The Festival is open to all and the College is looking forward to inviting guests from all over the region and the country.
“This is a marvellous chance for people interested in the written word to engage with topics as diverse as codes, biography, translation, urban writing, history, Shakespeare, legal language and poetry,” says Festival Director, Dr Jane Hughes.
“There are many people both in Cambridge and further afield who are fascinated by writing, but may not be studying in any formal way. We invite them to join our own students and dons for a challenging, exciting and lively year-long celebration of literature.”
The distinguished poet, John Mole, who is Honorary Director of the Festival, comments: “We've only to call up the names of those distinguished writers associated with the College - Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, T.S.Eliot, C.S.Lewis, I.A.Richards, William Empson and Seamus Heaney - to bear witness to how important writing is to the soul of Magdalene."
Highlights of the Festival will include readings by the engaging British poets, Simon Armitage, Sophie Hannah and Nick Drake, by Australian poet Les Murray, and by writers Julian Rathbone and Bamber Gascoigne.
Among those appearing in the Conversations series of discussions are scientist Richard Dawkins, TS Eliot Prize-winner George Szirtes, biographers Claire Tomalin and Nicholas Boyle, and historian Eamon Duffy.
The Master of Magdalene College, and Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Duncan Robinson will speak on art and literature, and there will be talks by Jonathan Bate, Helene Cixous and Hermione Lee. Writers in residence during the year will include Michael Bywater, Tamar Yoseloff and Gregory Norminton.
Magdalene College is one of the ancient Colleges of the University of Cambridge and the Festival will make use of the beautiful riverside location, elegant modern theatre and medieval courts. Magdalene is proud to be holding the first ever College Literary Festival.
Please note that the launch event is now FULLY BOOKED and there are no tickets remaining.
The Festival runs from 5 October 2005 to 7 July 2006.
Picture shows Seamus Heaney.
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