Page 30 - link magazine

30
Swirdor Wide
Discover something different

F1 AL in early May
1 to 13 May are days of delights right across the spectrum of literature.
But festival director Matt Holland says there's more to the Swindon
Festival of Literature than famous faces and best-selling authors.
Swindon has a reputation as a festi- by two living ones. These are two
*To val of ideas. And these ideas come performances that bristle with ideas.
not only from the well known but also On the penultimate day of the fes-
from the less well known authors and tival, one of the topics is Happiness.
events. Psychologist Daniel Nettle takes a
We are as proud of the `small' close look and asks a few questions.
names that appear as we are of the What is happiness? Are we only ever
'bigger' ones. The broader the range as happy as we make up our minds
the larger the choice. Something for to be?
MOT TESTING AND everyone meansjust that at the Swin-
don Festival of Literature.
REPAIRS to be entertained by music, visual
Do you like poetry? Would you like
images, and stunning poems from
I EXHAUST TYRES AND around the world? If your answer is
yes, then BeingA/ive. on the first day
of the festival, is for you. It sees
BATTERIES professional performers presenting
fabulous poems by famous poets
from the brilliant Bloodaxe collec- P/antsrnan Patrick Harding
I AIR CONDITIONING tion. This promises to be a night to
re.memher_ And on the same day. there are
SERVICE BErr rn No. -- three events that are completely dif-
ferent. Patrick's Flori/egium is an il-
BET lustrated talk on culinary and medici-
nal use of plants. Guitar Manlooks at
I VALET Book the life of the guitar, the modern
musical instrument of choice. First-
SERVICE Your ca ti me author and guitar player Will
in for a Hodgkinson tells his six string odys-
Spring sey and explains his answers to the
CAR HIRE service question, 'Why do you love that gui-
now! tar more than me? And Preparing for
Paraguay introduces the audience
to the culture and the country that
Free collection & delivery Do you like art or thinking about play England in their first football
art? During the first week of the fes-
match at the World Cup.
tival, a good part of the fourth day is
Free loan devoted with art talk. One author, On the final day of the 13th
triskaidekaphobia-defying Swindon
ProfessorJohn Carey, asks the ques-
cars (subject Festival of Literature, mischievous
tion. WhatGoodare the Arts?' And
to availability) answers it. Another, art lover Julian Ca// My B/uff clue writer Marcus
Spaldling, looks at The Art of Won- Moore appropriately sets minds in
Lift to and der, and the wonder of art. These two motion on the matter of As Luck
Would Have /t, a quizzical event for
from work authors promise words of wisdom all the family. It has questions, an-
and insights.
swers, ideas, and prizes!
Wash and Book tickets on the numbers be/ow:
vac with all Being Alive 1 May, 7pm.
Arts Centre. Tel 614837
servicing What Good are the Arts? The
Clive Brain Memorial Lecture. 4
FISH BROTHERS May, 5pm. Swindon College. Free!
The Art of Wonder 4 May, 7pm.
TO BOOK OR FIND OUT MORE PLEASE Arts Centre. Tel 614837
CONTACT RONI, CHRISTINE OR ANDY ON Melvin Burgess 6 May, 2pm.
01793 645510 Arts Centre. Tel 614837
Kierkegaard 5 May, 7.30pm.
Art Gallery. Tel 466556
On 6 May, young people's writer
FISH BROTHERS Melvin Burgess, above, comes to Muggeridge 9 May. 12.30pm.
University of Bath in Swindon.
NISSAN town. His book Doing/twas adapted Tel 466454
for the big screen in a film starring Patrick's Florilegium 12 May,
ALL MAKES 0 Kelly Osborne. His best selling book 12.30pm. Arts Centre. Tel 614837
3unkis the definitive tale of teenage Happiness 12 May, 6pm.
SERVICING OFFER drug addiction: and his controversial Art Gallery. Tel 466556
novel My Life as a Bitch helped win
him the coveted Carnegie Prize. He's As Luck Would Have It 13 May,
• NAME 2pm. Old Railway Museum.
a nice man.
The lives of two dead authors, Tel 466454
• REG NO Danish philosopher Soren Kierke- Fora fu//,orograrnrne of events, calf
Valid until 31 May 2006 gaard and British broadcaster 430328 or 771080 of And it at:
Malcolm Muggeridge, are celebrated www.swindonfestiva/of/iterature. co. uk