Archive for August 3, 2010
8 October: Gareth Peirce – Dispatches from the Dark Side -The Death Of Justice
1 year ago
Friday 8 October
Gareth Peirce: Dispatches From the Dark Side: On Torture and the Death of Justice
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.30 – 8.45pm
Sponsored by the RSA
Gareth Peirce is a human rights lawyer who has faced down some incredible opponents – fighting bitter battles for the wrongly convicted and campaigning for law reform. She represented the Birmingham Six, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, Guantanamo detainees Moazzam Begg and Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi and the families of the victims of the Lockerbie air disaster amongst a plethora of high profile cases. Gaining her inspiration from the rallies of Luther King in 1960’s America, she is considered radical by some, passionate by others. In a career spanning more than 30 years, she is said to have “transformed the criminal justice scene in this country almost single-handedly.” Dispatches From The Dark Side is her first book
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
7 October: Jonathan Coe & David Nicholls
1 year ago
Thursday 7 October
Jonathan Coe & David Nicholls
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
Sponsored by Pinsent Masons
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham. His novels includeThe Rotters’ Club, The Accidental Woman, and What a Carve Up!, which won the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and The Rain Before it Falls. The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim is his latest book.
David Nicholls writes novels and for television. His adaptation credits include Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Much Ado About Nothing for the BBC and Cold Feet for ITV. His debut novel Starter For Ten is now a film starring James McAvoy. The film of his third novel, One Day, is due to be released in 2011.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
7 October: John Lanchester – Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No-One Can Pay
1 year ago
Thursday 7 October
John Lanchester : Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay
Introduced by Patrick Burns, Political Editor, BBC Midlands.
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.30 – 8.45pm
In association with the RSA
In 2000, the total GDP of Earth was $36 trillion. At the start of 2007 it was $70 trillion. Today that growth has gone suddenly and sharply into decline, with an effect roughly resembling that of putting a car into reverse while doing seventy down a motorway.
John Lanchester unpicks the credit crunch to understand deeply and genuinely what is happening to the world’s finances and why we feel the way we do about it.
John is a novelist and journalist, winner of the Betty Trask and Whitbread awards, and a former editor of the London Review of Books.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
7 October: Poet Laureate Inauguration and guest Pascale Petit
1 year ago
Thursday 7 October
Celebrating National Poetry Day: Birmingham’s New Poet Laureate
Guest Poet Pascale Petit
6.45 – 8.45pm
The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ.
Presented In Association with Birmingham Libraries
Sponsored by Newman University College Birmingham
Join us and Birmingham Libraries for the first reading of the brand new Poet Laureate for the city. It is a longstanding tradition for the new Laureate to be announced on National Poetry Day and then to perform at the Festival in their first official capacity.
Guest Poet Pascale Petit’s latest collections are What the Water Gave Me – Poems after Frida Kahlo (Seren, 2010) and The Treekeeper’s Tale (Seren, 2008). She has published five collections, two of which, The Huntress and The Zoo Father, were shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize and were books of the year in the Times Literary Supplement and The Independent.
The Birmingham Poet Laureate scheme has been run successfully by Birmingham Libraries for fourteen years and continues to showcase poetry talent in the city.
Tickets: FREE
Tickets are free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
6 October: New Voices in Women’s Fiction
1 year ago
Wednesday 6 October
New Voices In Women’s Fiction : Priya Basil, Jane Borodale & Anjali Joseph
7.45 – 9pm
Venue: Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
There is nothing quite like discovering a writer whose work moves you. A few voices stand out each year – here’s our pick of ones to watch.
Priya Basil
The Obscure Logic of the Heart is a profound love story between a Kenyan Sikh and a British Muslim who meet at University and hide their relationship from their families until a suitcase of letters falls into the wrong hands.
Jane Borodale
The Book Of Fires is set in 1752. A teenage runaway becomes apprentice to a darkly eccentric firework maker, aiding his groundbreaking study of pyrotechny while trying to conceal her unwanted pregnancy.
Anjali Joseph
In Bombay’s Saraswati Park, letter writer Mohan has to discover his own voice to reconcile with his absent wife and reach out to his diffident nephew who has begun a stormy affair with an older man.
Tickets: £5 (£4)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
6 October: Emerging Talent – NAW Showcase
1 year ago
Wednesday 6 October
Emerging Talent: National Academy of Writing Showcase
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
6.30- 7.30pm
The National Academy of Writing was set up in 2000 to create a school for aspiring writers with demonstrable talent based on the ‘conservatoire’ approach adopted in the performing arts.
This event will showcase some of the best work by writers on the MA/Diploma programme at Birmingham City University, run in association with the National Academy of Writing.
Tickets: FREE
Tickets are free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
5 October : Gavin Pretor-Pinney – The Wavewatcher’s Companion
1 year ago
Tuesday 5 October
Gavin Pretor-Pinney : The Wavewatcher’s Companion.
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
In Association with the RSA
From the rippling beats of our hearts, to the movement of food through our digestive tracts, waves are the transport systems of our bodies. Everything we see and hear reaches us via light and sound waves, and our information age is reliant on microwaves and infrared waves. From shockwaves unleashed by explosions to torsional waves that cause suspension bridges to collapse, from the sonar waves that allow submarines to ‘see’ with sound to Mexican waves that sweep through stadium crowds, Gavin’s book explores waves of every kind.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney is the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society and author of two Sunday Times bestsellers, The Cloudspotter’s Guide and The Cloud Collector’s Handbook.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
