ANTHONY THWAITE JANE ADAMS JOHN FLORANCE COLIN DEXTER ANDREW BISWELL ADELE PARKS PAUL BRODRICK MARY MESTECKY DAVID LODGE CHRIS D’LACEY SUE TOWNSEND PIPPA GOODHARTTHE VICTORIAN TOY THEATRE ANDREW BISWELLCOLIN DEXTER ANDREW BISWELL ADELE PARKSANTHONY THWAITE JANE ADAMS JOHN FLORANCE JOHN FLORANCE THE VICTORIAN TOY THEATREPAUL BRODRICK MARY MESTECKY DAVID LODGE SUE TOWNSEND CHRIS D’LACEY PIPPA GOODHARTANTHONY THWAITE JANE ADAMS JOHN FLORANCE COLIN DEXTER ANDREW BISWELL ADELE PARKS PAUL BRODRICK MARY MESTECKY DAVID LODGE PIPPA GOODHART SUE TOWNSEND JANE ADAMS UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER THEATRE CHRIS D’LACEY

DAVID WILSON LIBRARY

Wednesday 29 October – Saturday 1 November 2008

Literary Leicester

www.le.ac.uk/literaryleicester

Join us to celebrate the completion of the newDavid Wilson Library at the University of Leicester.

This year sees the opening of the remodelled and extendedDavid Wilson Library, combining stunning architecture, state-of-the-art study facilities and a splendid home for the Library’smillion books.

What better way to mark the opening of a new library than acelebration of books and words associated with the Universityof Leicester, the city of Leicester and academic life.

Over three days there will be spellbinding opportunities forall age groups to meet and listen to a dozen eminent writers,experience exciting drama and see the new Library and itstreasures.

2 UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Welcome

TicketsEntry to all events is free. Some ofthe events are ticketed and theseare highlighted in the programme. For ticketsplease contact Jenny Lees on 0116 252 2323or jel13@le.ac.uk.

VenueThe Literary Leicester events are taking placein the David Wilson Library and FieldingJohnson Building South Wing (see map onthe back cover). Both the David WilsonLibrary and the Fielding Johnson BuildingSouth Wing are fully accessible for disabledvisitors but if you do have any special needsplease contact Jenny Lees on 0116 252 2323or jel13@le.ac.uk.

ParkingLimited parking is available on campus and atthe satellite car park off Welford Road – seethe map on the back cover. Visitors areadvised to use public transport to access thecampus.

ChildrenThe events on Saturday afternoon areparticularly suitable for children. Theremaining events are not suitable for childrenbelow the age of 12.

RefreshmentsThe David Wilson Library Café is openthroughout the Festival.

LITERARY LEICESTER · 29 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2008 3

Information

CONTENTS

Wednesday 29 October......4-5•Anthony Thwaite on Philip Larkin•Anthony Thwaite poetry reading

Thursday 30 October ..........6-7•Leicester Writers Panel•David Lodge: Scenes from

Academic Life

Saturday 1 November ......8-11•Children’s afternoon of readings

and theatre•An audience with Colin Dexter

How to find the Library..............Back cover

FREE TICKET

For information about the events or for further copies of the programme please contact

Jenny Lees on 0116 252 2323 orjel13@le.ac.uk.

6.00 pm New Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing

Opening of the Literary Leicester Festival

Professor Robert BurgessVice-Chancellor, University of Leicester

followed by

Philip to Monica. The Poet’s Most Intimate Letters

Anthony Thwaite

Philip Larkin and Monica Jonesfirst met in the autumn of 1946at Leicester University College.Monica had been appointed asan Assistant Lecturer in Englishthere in January 1946. Larkinarrived in September 1946, as anAssistant Librarian. BetweenDecember 1946 and the end of1984, Larkin wrote Monica 1421letters and 521 postcards. Mostof these were written afterLarkin moved to Belfast in 1950,then to Hull in 1955.

These pages – over 7,500 of them – chronicle Larkin’s life and attitudes moreintimately than any other. After Monica Jones’s death in 2001, they were bought bythe Bodleian Library, Oxford. Now Anthony Thwaite is preparing for Faber and Faber,in conjunction with the Bodleian, a selection of letters. His talk is an informalpresentation of some of this extraordinary material (gossipy, rancorous, affectionate,miserable, often very funny) written to his “Dearest Bun”.

4 UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Wednesday 29 October

The first purpose-built University of Leicester Library was officiallyopened by Philip Larkin on 27th September 1975

Some of the events are ticketed and these are highlighted in the programme…

FREE TICKET

FREE TICKET

Interval – Drinks and light refreshmentsDuring the interval there will be an opportunity to view a display of Philip Larkinmanuscript letters from the University Archive and to hear his speech made at theopening of the first purpose-built University of Leicester Library in 1975.

7.30 pm New Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing

Anthony Thwaite reads from his poetryAnthony Thwaite was born in1930. He spent the schoolholidays of 1944-47 in Leicester,when his parents were living inthe city. After leaving OxfordUniversity in 1955, he taughtEnglish Literature at TokyoUniversity for two years. Sincethen he has been in turn a BBCradio producer, literary editor ofthe Listener, assistant Professor ofEnglish at the University of Libya,literary editor of the NewStatesman, and co-editor ofEncounter, 1973-85.

He has published seventeen books of poems, most recently Collected Poems (2007),and holds honorary decorates from the Universities of Hull and East Anglia. He wasawarded an OBE for services to poetry in 1990. Philip Larkin appointed him as one ofhis literary executors (along with Monica Jones and Andrew Motion), and Thwaiteedited Larkin’s Collected Poems (1988), Selected Letters (1992), and FurtherRequirements (2001).

LITERARY LEICESTER · 29 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2008 5

Wednesday 29 October

Anthony Thwaite (image: Jemimah Kuhfeld www.jemimahkuhfeld.co.uk)

For tickets please contact Jenny Lees on 0116 252 2323 or jel13@le.ac.uk

FREE TICKET

6 UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Thursday 30 October

6.00 pm Ogden Lewis Seminar Suite, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing

Leicester Writers’ Panel

Chair: John Florance, Radio Leicester

Four outstanding contemporary writers with closelinks to Leicester discuss their work with BBC RadioLeicester’s John Florance. The panel discussion willrange widely but will explore in particular the roleLeicester has played in the development of thewriters’ careers. Questions and contributions fromthe audience will also be invited.

Jane Adams is the author of seventeen crime novelspublished by Pan Macmillan, Allison & Busby and SevernHouse. She is also a creative writing tutor and currently theRoyal Literary Fund Fellow at De Montfort University.

Andrew Biswell is the director of the Writing School atManchester Metropolitan University. He graduated from theUniversity of Leicester with a BA in English and an MA inModern Literature. He has worked as a literary journalist for theScotsman, Times Literary Supplement, Daily Telegraph and

Guardian. His biography of Anthony Burgess is published by Picador.

Paul Brodrick is a radio and television dramatist who haswritten for The Archers and Doctors as well as writingan Afternoon Play, Dancing with Mr D and a Friday Play, All American Boys for Radio 4. He is currently working onseveral ideas for screenplays, including an adaptation of aghost story by Mrs Gaskell. Paul Brodrick graduated from Leicester with a BScin Psychology (1982) and an MA in Modern English and American Literature(1984).

LITERARY LEICESTER · 29 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2008 7

Thursday 30 October

Adele Parks graduated from the University of Leicester with aBA in English Literature in 1990 and is now an internationalbestseller of contemporary female fiction. She has published ninenovels with Penguin Books including Playing Away, Husbands andTell Me Something.

Interval – Drinks and light refreshments

7.30 pm New Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing

David Lodge: Scenes from Academic Life

Chair: Professor Martin Stannard

David Lodge reads from his new novel Deaf Sentence and fromhis earlier fiction, with incidental reflections on the campusnovel as a sub-genre. Afterwards he will take questions fromthe audience.

David Lodge was born in London in 1935. He was educated atUniversity College London and the University of Birmingham,where he taught in the English Department from 1960 until1987, when he retired to become a full-time writer. He is Emeritus Professor of EnglishLiterature at Birmingham and continues to live in that city.

David Lodge’s novels include The Picturegoers (1960); Ginger, You’re Barmy (1962); TheBritish Museum is Falling Down (1965); Out of the Shelter (1970); Changing Places(1975), for which he was awarded both the Hawthornden Prize and the Yorkshire PostFiction Prize; How Far Can You Go?, which was Whitbread Book of the Year in 1980;Small World, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984; Nice Work, which wonthe 1988 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award and was also shortlisted for theBooker Prize; Paradise News (1991); Therapy, regional winner and finalist for the 1996Commonwealth Writers Prize; Thinks ... (2001), Author, Author (2004) and, mostrecently, Deaf Sentence. He has also written numerous books of literary criticism, twoplays and television adaptations of his own work and of Martin Chuzzlewit.

FREE TICKET

David Wilson LibraryAn afternoon of fun, theatre, books and reading for all the family.

1.30 pm

Chris d’LaceyChris d’Lacey writes books for children of all ages, but is best

known for his series about dragons, the latest of whichis The Fire Eternal. He is a regular visitor to schools,

libraries and book festivals. In July 2002, he was awardedan honorary doctorate by the University of Leicester.

2.00 pm

David Campton performed by University of Leicester Theatre

David Campton, born in Leicester in 1924, initially achieved prominence as anexponent of Theatre of the Absurd and during a lengthy career stretchingfrom the 1950s to the 21st century wrote extensively for the stage, radioand television. Awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Leicesterin 2006, David Campton deposited his archive in the library prior to his death laterthat year.

2.00 pm

Pippa GoodhartPippa Goodhart went from bookselling into writing and has had sixtychildren’s books published since then ranging frompicture books through early readers to novels. Herpicture book You Choose is Bookstart’s chosenbook given to all three year olds. She combines

writing with teaching both children andadults, including tutoring in creative

writing at the University of Leicester’sVaughan College.

8 UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Saturday 1 November

7-12 years

Author Reading

12 years upDRAMA

4-8 years

Author Reading

2.30 pm

Mary MesteckyMary Mestecky was born and educated in Aberystwyth. She was agraduate assistant at the University of Iowa and University of Maine. Back inthe UK she has held posts in prison education and adult education includingcourses at the University of Leicester’s Vaughan College and Northampton Centre. HerGuarding the Treasure for 7-9 year olds was published by Gomer Press in 2005, and asequel is planned for 2009.

LITERARY LEICESTER · 29 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2008 9

Saturday 1 November

7-9 yearsAuthor Reading

3.00 pm

Victorian Toy Theatre

Cornelius and Jones Touring Theatre Company

When paper puppets from afading Victorian theatre come tolife, their fortunes change forever.One puppet – Jack – unhappywith the dull brown toy theatre,leaves his attic home for thebustling London street below insearch of colour and adventure.Here he experiences the life ofhawkers and traders and learnsabout Victorian life.

Written by Anthony PetersMusic and songs by AndrewDodgeRunning time 60 minutes

5 years upDRAMA

10 UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Saturday 1 November (continued)

2.00 pm – 4.00 pm

Discover Sue TownsendAlex Cave, University Archivist

Drop in to look at real documents andobjects relating to Sue Townsend’s

life and fiction. Bring alongyour own small box of objects

and documents that representyour life and find out how to use archivesand interpret evidence.

8 years up

Drop-in activity

4.00 pm

Sue TownsendMeet Leicester’s celebrated writer, Sue Townsend, in a question andanswer session. This is a wonderful opportunity for all Adrian Mole fansto ask the author about the country’s most famous diarist, find out where shegets her inspiration and discover what it is like to be a best-selling writer.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4and its sequel, The Growing Pains of AdrianMole were both number one bestsellers andmade Sue Townsend the bestselling novelist ofthe 1980s. Together the five Mole diaries havesold over 8 million copies. Her other novelsinclude Rebuilding Coventry (1988), TheQueen and I (1992), Ghost Children (1998)and Queen Camilla. Sue Townsend is also theauthor of several stage and radio plays.

In 2008 she was awarded a DistinguishedHonorary Fellowship by the University ofLeicester, the highest accolade the Universitycan bestow.

FREE TICKET 93/4 years upAuthor Q & A

Sue Townsend at the Library

LITERARY LEICESTER · 29 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2008 11

Saturday 1 November (continued)

6.00 pm New Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing

An audience with Colin DexterAuthor Colin Dexter will talk about his best-knowncreation, Inspector Morse. Morse first appeared inLast Bus to Woodstock in 1975 and featured in afurther thirteen novels and numerous short stories.To huge acclaim the novels were adapted fortelevision in more than 30 episodes starring JohnThaw and Kevin Whately.

An Honorary Graduate of the University ofLeicester, Colin Dexter began writing part-timeduring a 13 year teaching career, including aperiod as Assistant Classics Master at WyggestonSchool, Leicester.

Followed by drinks and reception

FREE TICKET

© University of Leicester 2008Leicester LE1 7RH, UK

www.le.ac.uk

This brochure was printed by AVS Print, University of Leicesterusing vegetable based inks on FSC certified stock

Chaplaincy CentreThe Gatehouse

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Attenborough(Seminar Block)

Attenborough(Tower)

University Road

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AstleyClarke

SecurityLodge

CannonsHealth Club

Mathematicsand ComputerScience

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Engineering

To A50/A5199 (Welford Road)To A6 (London Road)

Fielding Johnson

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Victoria Park

David Wilson Library

Campus Entrance with Barrier

Libraryentrance

Entrance forNew Lecture Theatreand Ogden Lewis Seminar SuiteP

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How to find the David Wilson Library