Tag: LitFest

The Lie of the Land and the Call of the Sea

The Lie of the Land and the Call of the Sea

November 11, 2023 at 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Clifton LitFest proudly presents the premiere of a multimedia exploration of our elemental relationship with the land we rely on and the sea that surrounds us. The performance combines superb film by David Parker and Bob Pitt with music especially composed and performed by pianist Sandie Middleton, Katie Axelson on flute, and poetry written and read by Rowan Middleton.

The film is curated from David Parker’s film archive of Britain’s recent past as seen through the lens of home movie makers of the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, featuring haymaking with horses, fishing in the North Sea, and fun at the fair.

With sparkling harmonies and sweeping melodies Sandie Middleton’s music is evocative of the natural and emotional landscapes depicted in the films.

Ticket price includes glass of prosecco.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£15) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719105894087?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Clare Reddaway  Story Walk 2023

November 12, 2023 at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

This event has now SOLD OUT

Clare’s popular Clifton story-walk is back, with a brand new walk created for the 2023 festival. Described as ‘innovative’ and ‘an absolute joy’ by audiences, Clare’s walks regularly sell out. Clare leads walkers on a stroll through Clifton, combining unusual facts with short fictions inspired by contemporary and historical Clifton life.

Clare creates characters who are moving, relatable and often funny. ‘I was blown away by the stories’ said one participant. Clare is a widely published award-winning short story writer. Her debut novella is out next year, published by Fairlight Books. Meet at 11am in the library courtyard.

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Clare Reddaway  Story Walk 2023

Clare Reddaway  Story Walk 2023

November 11, 2023 at 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

This event has now SOLD OUT

Clare’s popular Clifton story-walk is back, with a brand new walk created for the 2023 festival. Described as ‘innovative’ and ‘an absolute joy’ by audiences, Clare’s walks regularly sell out. Clare leads walkers on a stroll through Clifton, combining unusual facts with short fictions inspired by contemporary and historical Clifton life.

Clare creates characters who are moving, relatable and often funny. ‘I was blown away by the stories’ said one participant. Clare is a widely published award-winning short story writer. Her debut novella is out next year, published by Fairlight Books. Meet at 2.30 in the library courtyard.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/718650060677?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Carmina 3: Words Become Music       

Carmina 3: Words Become Music

November 12, 2023 at 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Carmina3 play a mix of folk, jazz and Celtic music in powerful original songs that often draw their inspiration from literature. Award-winning songwriters and founder members Rob King (acoustic guitar, bodhran) and Pippa Marland (vocals, saxophones, Irish whistles) met while studying English at the University of Bristol. They have toured internationally and released six albums, two produced by Irish music legend Donal Lunny. The third, longstanding member of the band is the brilliant Irish musician Paul Bradley, who adds virtuoso vocal harmonies, melodica and acoustic and electric guitar to the mix.

In a special show devised for Clifton LitFest, the band will combine short readings from their literary touchstones with performances of the songs they inspired. The authors are an eclectic mix including Adrienne Rich, Philip Larkin, Edith Sitwell, William Shakespeare, Carol Ann Duffy and R.D. Laing as well as other songwriters and lyricists.

The evening will celebrate the close connections between literature and song, showing how words become music. The event starts at 7 and the bar opens at 6.30pm.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719238530807?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Pete Dalby  One Hundred Days in a Balloon

Pete Dalby  One Hundred Days in a Balloon in conversation with Michael MacMahon

November 12, 2023 at 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Pete Dalby will discuss his life in ballooning in conversation with Michael MacMahon.

From a chance encounter with a balloon pilot in the mid eighties to flying the largest operational balloon in the UK, carrying a very surprising load, Pete transports us into that ethereal existence of a hot air balloon pilot. Spanning a career of 37 years and over 2,400 hours, standing in a variety of balloon baskets, the stories and anecdotes are plentiful.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719233947097?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Janet Reibstein 

Janet Reibstein in conversation with Helen Taylor

November 12, 2023 at 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Dr. Janet Reibstein is a psychologist, academic, researcher, broadcaster and psychotherapist. She is Professor Emerita in the School of Psychology at the University of Exeter, where she directed the postgraduate programme in family and couple therapy for MSc and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology students.

Janet wrote the official UK Parenting Programme and Listening to Children. She has sat on various boards of organisations concerned with families and relationships, including, Relate and was clinical consultant to the charity, One plus One. She is the author of a number of books, the most recent being Good Relations: Cracking the code of how to get on better, as well as numerous publications both in the academic and in the popular media. She has broadcast two Radio 4 series on couples, as well as a 5 part Channel 4 series based on her work, called Love Life.

In a Q and A session Janet will discuss her research and whether there is a ‘code’ for getting on with others.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719226534927?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Peter Lord:  Aardman

November 12, 2023 at 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

From earliest beginnings on Children’s TV, (especially with Tony Hart’s sidekick Morph), Peter’s company Aardman has gone from strength to strength. As well as kids’ series, they have produced independent short films like Creature Comforts, music videos like Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, and the first full length animated feature to be made in Britain in decades, Chicken Run, which Peter co-directed with Nick Park. Later films include Shaun the Sheep, Flushed Away, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists.

Not to mention the much loved duo Wallace and Gromit.

Peter will chat about the story of Aardman, the people who make up the company, and take you behind the scenes of some of the films they’ve made.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719217838917?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Bruce Fellows

Bruce Fellows

November 12, 2023 at 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Bruce Fellows will be talking about his novel, The Best One There, in which a young German pilot is forced to grapple with personal beliefs when confronted with the horrific results of Nazi doctrine.

Bruce currently writes about books in The Bristol Six + Eight Magazine. 

He has written an earlier novel, That Quiet Earth.

Bruce lives in Bristol and has written plays for local Bristol theatre companies including Show of Strength, Theatre West and the Brass Works.

His new novel, The End of It, will be published early in 2024.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719214077667?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

Dr Onyeka Nubia

Dr Onyeka Nubia:  Understanding England’s Past

November 12, 2023 at 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

The sound bite of ‘political correctness gone mad’ hides the narrative that there is history ‘out there.’ And it is impossible to tell England’s story, without including multiple voices! History is not his-story, the elite musings of few very powerful-rich, landed gentry who were born in Europe. England’s history is the histories of everyone who has lived or been connected to these islands. One does not have to choose between Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale, Samuel Coleridge Taylor and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They are all part of this island’s story.

Dr Onyeka Nubia is a pioneering and internationally recognised historian, writer and presenter. His books include England’s Other Countrymen: Black Tudor Society and Blackamoores: Africans in Tudor England: Their Presence Status and Origins. He is the leading historian on the status and origins of Africans in pre-colonial England from antiquity to 1603.

He has helped us to an entirely new perspective on otherness, colonialism, imperialism and the Black British

contribution to World Wars I and II.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719209052637?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom

SEVERN BRIDGE POETRY

November 12, 2023 at 2:30 pm – 4:15 pm

Don’t miss this meeting of vibrant poetic voices from both sides of the Severn Estuary, a bridge over the flowing waters of imagination, a glorious span of ideas, feelings and language from four major poets. Our two most recent Bristol City Poets – Kat Lyons and Caleb Parkin – join forces with Abeer Ameer and Rhian Edwards from South Wales for a wonderful afternoon of poetry that will provoke, entertain, excite and leave you wanting more. City Poets, Kat and Caleb, have won numerous awards and been acclaimed for their dynamic readings in venues across the UK. Iraqi-heritage poet Abeer Ameer was runner-up for Wales Poetry Book of the Year 2022 with her breathtaking debut collection, ‘Inhale/Exile’, while Rhian Edwards won Wales Poetry Book of the Year for the wonderful ‘Clueless Dogs’ and the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, and is joint-Poetry Editor for Seren Books. This afternoon of brilliant poetry is sure to be one of your highlights of the year.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite (£10) – please use link below or via the library during library opening hours (cash only please) or on a Wednesday morning from 10.30 until 12.30 (or until 4pm on Wednesday matinee days).  On a Wednesday, card payments can be taken.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/719201289417?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presented by Friends of Clifton Centre and Library

Christ Church Clifton

Clifton Down Road
Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3BN United Kingdom