Attacks on the BBC from both the left and the right are discussed in a new book to be launched at a north Norfolk literary festival. ‘The War against the BBC’, by Peter York, will be presented on October 23 during the Sea Fever festival in Wells-next-the-Sea, which takes place both physically at the Wells Maltings and online.
Jim Ring, festival co-director along with David Waller, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to put together what seems to David and I and the festival team such an eclectic and wide-ranging programme.
“Despite being staged at such a difficult time, we really hope everyone enjoys it – on or offline.”
The opening event, on Friday, October 9, will be children’s writer Kevin Crossley-Holland, talking about his art with Phil Barrett (October 9, 7pm).
Other guest speakers will include:
-Wells harbour master Robert Smith will talk about the harbour’s challenges past and present (October 10, 3pm).
-Journalist Ursula Buchan will tell the story of her grandfather, John Buchan, who wrote the seminal spy thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps (October 10, 7pm).
-Anti-apartheid activist and poet Jonty Driver will talk about politics and poetry. Mr Driver, who attended the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and the University of East Anglia, will be in conversation with his former UEA colleague Professor Jon Cook (October 16, 7pm).
-Peter Willis, president of the Nancy Blackett Trust, will talk about Arthur Ransome’s Norfolk Broads children’s classic The Big Six, to mark the 80th anniversary of its publication (October 17, 7pm).
-Andy Bloomfield, warden at Holkham will reflect on the way conservation helped create the North Norfolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the challenges it faces in the future (October 21, 7pm).
-Writer Briony Bax will talk about her new poetry collection Lament, which looks at an individual’s journey with schizophrenia (October 22, 7pm).
This will be the fourth annual Sea Fever, which is a successor to the long-established Poetry-next-the-Sea festival. This year’s event was originally scheduled to take place in May, but was pushed back due to the lockdown.
Visit www.seafeverliteraryfestival.com for tickets and a full programme.
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