Programme for autumn 2024
SCREENING - AUTHOR: THE JT LEROY STORY
3pm, 13th October at The Poly
Join us for a screening and podcast recording to celebrate "the greatest literary hoax of all time". In the early 2000s, JT Leroy was the enfant terrible of the literary world: renowned for his semi-autobiographical novels and his extraordinary life as a truck-stop prostitute who had escaped West Virginia, via homelessness and drug addiction, to the heady heights of literary stardom.​ But in 2005 an investigative journalist blew the lid on the story: LeRoy was the fictional creation of writer Laura Albert, and his public appearances in wig and sunglasses were made by an actor.
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This is an Alice in Wonderland story of literary hype, rock shows, fashion events, and the Cannes red carpet. And layer upon layer of deceit. But while Albert's performance still infuriates many, channelling her fiction through another identity was the only possible path to self-expression.
This screening will feature an introduction and post-film discussion hosted by Prof Neil Fox as part of his award-winning 'Cinematologists' podcast with Dario Llinares. Described as “one of the finest film podcasts around” by Sight and Sound, over the past decade they have developed partnerships with BFI, MUBI and others. Neil will be joined by Falmouth Book Festival Director Colin Midson, who was an unwitting participant in the story when, a publicist at Bloomsbury in the early 2000s, he represented JT Leroy before his true identity was revealed.
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Event duration: 2hrs 45mins
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ROSIE HOLT: POLITICAL SATIRE
7pm, 14th October at The Poly
Rosie Holt, the desperate and loyal Tory MP* famous for her viral twitter ‘interviews’, is here to celebrate the last 14 years of Conservative government and explain to you, the British public, why the so called “scandals” or “controversial” decisions derided by the left were completely right (and intentional) all along. She’ll make Tories of you yet! (Though she has crossed the floor since the election and represents Labour.)
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*Rosie Holt actually became a viral sensation over lockdown when she created satirical videos of a *fake* politician whom many people still mistake as real. In addition to bringing her alter ego to the stage, she’ll also be talking about her book Why We Were Right, and how studying the drivel spoken by politicians has helped harness the power of laughter in a post-satire world.
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"I honestly think that Sunak should appoint Rosie Holt to the Cabinet and let her do the morning media rounds very day. It would clear up so much confusion" Alastair Campbell
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"If she can stay in character long enough, she'll have a Telegraph column and a seat on Question Time by teatime" James O'Brien
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"Beautifully observed, performed – and timed – they’ve skewered with such precision the contortions required of the current crop of Tory MPs that they’ve been mistaken for the real thing." The Guardian​​
VAL McDERMID IN CONVERSATION
7pm, 15th October at The Poly
Val McDermid is a number one bestselling crime writer whose novels have been translated into forty languages, and have sold over nineteen million copies worldwide. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award.
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Val comes from Kirkcaldy, Fife, and read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford (where she is now an Honorary Fellow). She was the first ever student from a state school in Scotland. Following graduation she became a journalist, and worked briefly as a dramatist before turning to fiction.
This October sees the publication of Silent Bones, the seventh book in the iconic Karen Pirie thriller series, which was recently turned into a major ITV adaptation starring Lauren Lyle. This year also saw the publication of Queen Macbeth, a retelling of the life of that most intriguing and complex of Shakespearian characters.​
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Praise for Val McDermid:
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'Brilliant . . . Sensational . . . Unforgettable' Guardian
'Compulsively readable' Irish Times
'One of today's most accomplished crime writers' Literary Review
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13 CORNISH GHOST STORIES
7pm, 16th October at The Poly
Cornwall is the perfect setting for tales, myths, and legends. The wild moors, the rebellious sea, and flat calm coves make the county a vast and inspirational canvas. The starry nights, needle-sharp gorse, and windswept tors and carns provide a perfect backdrop to eerie full moons and ghostly goings-on. Mischievous piskies dance across our landscape, while the spectres of the past, both real and imagined, haunt our memories and our dreams.​
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Join Keith Wallis host of ‘The Piskie Trap’ – a podcast exploring the folklore, history and legends of Cornwall – as he talks to some of the authors who have contributed to the recently published book 13 Cornish Ghost Stories.​
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Emily Barr is a travel writer and novelist, author of YA books such as The One Memory Of Flora Banks and bestselling thrillers like The Life You Want, and Backpack. Liz Fenwick has published nine novels and two novellas taking her inspiration from Cornwall's history and landscape, and in 2017 was named "the queen of the contemporary Cornish novel" by The Guardian. Emma Cowell is a former actress and BBC presenter and the author of books including One Last Letter from Greece, The House in the Olive Grove and The Island Love Song. They will be joined by co-editor of the collection Marie Macneill, writer, director, playwright and Senior Lecturer at the School of Film and Television at Falmouth University.
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Together they will be discussing their literary inspirations, the inherent ghostliness of Cornwall and the rich folkloric past that some of the stories in the collection draw upon. ​​
DAVID BADDIEL IN CONVERSATION:
MY FAMILY, THE MEMOIR
7pm, 17th Oct, at Princess Pavilion
On the surface, David Baddiel’s childhood was fairly standard: a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in an ordinary house in north-west London. But David came to realise that his mother was in fact not ordinary at all. Having escaped extermination by fleeing Nazi Germany as a child, she was desperate to make her life count, which took the form of a passionate, decades-long affair with a golfing memorabilia salesman. David’s detailing of the affair leads to the inescapable conclusion that Sarah Baddiel was a cross between Jack Niklaus and Erica Jong.
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Meanwhile, as Baddiel investigates his family’s past, his father’s dementia is making him moodier and more disinhibited, with an even greater penchant for obscenity. As with his mother’s affair, there is both comedy and poignancy to be found: laughter is a constant presence, capable of transforming the darkest of experiences into something redemptive.
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​'Such a blisteringly honest book it would set fire to the word "candid" for being too pathetic' CAITLIN MORAN
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RICK STEIN IN CONVERSATION
6.30pm, 18th October at The Poly​
Accompanying the major new BBC2 series, Rick Stein’s Food Stories is an exciting collection of new classics that celebrate modern Britain. Rick’s recipes reflect his mouth-watering and heartfelt exploration of today’s British cuisine and how different cultures have influenced the nation’s evolving palate.
Rick highlights traditional favourites such as Bangers and champ with red wine gravy, Crumpets with potted shrimp, and Tattie scones with smoked salmon and puts his twist on new food and flavours that have come to our shores, including Kubo pork belly adobo, Arroz roja and Paneer jalfrezi.
With stunning food and location photography, Rick Stein’s Food Stories also shines a spotlight on talented food heroes from all over the country, from food growers and producers to immigrant home cooks and rebellious young chefs. Let Rick take you on a delicious journey through our joyous and ever-changing food scene.
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‘Over my 55-year career, I’ve seen British cuisine transform. What we have now is an amalgam of our own rich repertoire of dishes, and the food and flavours of so many different cultures from the people who have made Britain their home – from meat and two veg to Pad Thai noodles. We have today what I believe is one of the most exciting cuisines in the world’ – Rick Stein
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JENNIFER COX: WOMEN ARE ANGRY
12pm, 19th October at The Poly
Lifting the lid on how women have been conditioned to repress anger, the impact this has on their physical and mental health and what they can do about it.
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In a world where patience is a virtue and being a good girl is for life, women are never allowed to truly express their anger - and it is making us ill. After a lifetime of being told to repress it, to hide it away and fear it, anger has begun to manifest in female bodies in myriad ways we can't control. And the results are alarming.
In this powerful and eye-opening book, psychotherapist Jennifer Cox takes us on a journey from cradle to grave revealing how, at every stage of our lives, women are conditioned not to speak out or 'make a fuss'. Jennifer draws on her wealth of therapeutic experience to show us how to tune in to our feelings of frustration and offers us the tools to express what we have subdued for so long.
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'Jennifer's intelligence, compassion and experience as a psychotherapist make this a game-changer and a must-read for women and the men who love us.' Shaparak Khorsandi
'A revelation and resource for not just women, but everyone.' Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her and The Resilience Myth
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TRELAWNY'S CORNWALL
2pm 19th October at The Poly
Part memoir, part history, an exploration of Cornwall, past present and future.
It would be hard to think of a more Cornish name than Petroc Trelawny. combining, as it does, one of Cornwall's most celebrated saints with the name of its unofficial national anthem. But when a stranger challenges the Radio 3 presenter on his ancestry, he is inspired to return to the place where he grew up, and attempt to confirm if he still belongs there.
Petroc returns to his childhood home on the Lizard, visits old mine workings, ancient churches, and places where poets, musicians, architects and filmmakers have worked to shape Cornwall's identity. He explores the Tamar and holds a finger up to winds of change, exploring the collapse of Methodism, the decline of the Cornish language, and the complex, sometimes lucrative, sometimes destructive, relationship with tourism.
As he travels by road, rail and foot, he conjures marvellously vivid figures and scenes from memory, telling the stories of a loving family full of mysteries and a landscape still redolent of 'Cornish otherness'.
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I can't think of a more enjoyable or more illuminating guide to Cornwall than Petroc Trelawny, who knows it intimately, loves it deeply, and shares it generously' - THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES
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MONIQUE ROFFEY: PASSIONTIDE
4pm 19th October at The Poly
​The electrifying new novel from the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch.
One morning, at the close of St Colibri’s carnival, a young female steel-pan player is found dead beneath a cannonball tree. It is a discovery that will transform the lives of everyone on this small island.
As the days pass, this shocking event draws together four women: local journalist Sharleen; her childhood friend and straight-talking local activist, Tara: Gigi, the ‘notorious’ founder of the Port Isabella Sex Workers Collective; and Daisy, first lady of St Colibri.
In a community in which women’s voices are often silenced and violence against them is overlooked time after time, the group soon find themselves compelled to speak out – and to act. But even they could never have foreseen the consequences of their courage…
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‘Vital, enraging and brilliant. I loved it’ Sarah WInman
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‘Roffey’s world-building power is evident on every page’ Guardian
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NICK HARKAWAY: LE CARRÉ'S LEGACY
6pm 19th October at The Poly​​
Nick Harkaway reintroduces the legendary British spy, George Smiley, to modern audiences.
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In a gripping new novel, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway, son of John Le Carré, we return to the spring of 1963. With the wreckage of the West's spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, Smiley has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans and Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy…
Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway's Karla's Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer, John le Carré.​
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'A brilliant and almost uncanny incarnation of le Carré’s voice and world - and an exceptional espionage novel in its own right' William Boyd
'A note-perfect tribute to le Carré that feels fresh and new, and yet fits seamlessly into the world of Smiley’s Circus in its heyday' Mick Herron
WILL HODGKINSON: STREET LEVEL SUPERSTAR
7.30pm 19th October at The Poly​​
Will Hodgkinson tells the tragic and inspiring story of Lawrence, and his lifelong obsession with fame, glory, and writing the perfect pop song.
​Lawrence is the greatest pop star who never made it, his dreams of glory thwarted by bad luck and self-sabotage. His first band Felt released ten albums and ten singles in the 80s. His next band Denim signed to EMI, and in 1997, their song 'Summer Smash' became Radio 1's Single of the Week. Then Princess Diana was killed in a car crash. All copies were melted down and depression, addiction and homelessness followed... but Lawrence never gave up.
In Street-Level Superstar, Times music critic Will Hodgkinson follows Lawrence as he rebuilds his life. As they walk together down rain-soaked streets, Will tells the story of Britain's most eccentric cult star. Will he write the greatest song the world has ever known before the year is out? And was it worth sacrificing everything - family, relationships, health, sanity - for art?
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Essential reading.' Jarvis Cocker
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'Wonderful.' Bobby Gillespie
CATHY RENTZENBRINK: ORDINARY TIME
12pm 20th October at The Poly​​
Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the acclaimed novel Everyone is Still Alive and several works of non-fiction including the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love.
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Cathy will be talking about her latest novel, Ordinary Time, which charts the joys and sorrows of everyday life; one that asks big questions about friendship and marriage, forgiveness and redemption, and the real meaning of love.
It tells the story of Ann, a reluctant Vicar's wife who tries her best. But her husband only has eyes for God, her son is asking questions she struggles to answer, and it is all too easy to displease the congregation. When her brother needs her help, Ann travels from Cornwall up to London where she meets Jamie, and a new world unexpectedly opens up. Ann knows what the older women of the parish would say - she's made her bed and now she has to lie in it. But once she has been led into temptation, it may prove impossible to resist . . .
'Here is the absolute truth about love, told with wisdom, heart and humour. So clever, funny and life-affirming' Meg Mason
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'Very special. . . She makes the everyday profound like Anne Tyler does. Melancholy interiority meets great capacity for joy. A beautiful, beautiful book about love in all its forms' Marian Keyes
HELEN SCALES: THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD'S OCEAN
2pm 20th October at The Poly​​
After more than twenty years of exploring the seas, marine biologist Helen Scales found herself struggling to answer a question that ever more people were asking: Are you hopeful for the future of the ocean? She’s gazed into the intelligent eyes of octopuses, listened to whales singing underwater and found pocket-sized sharks in rockpools; she has also swum in plastic-polluted waters and watched coral reefs bleaching in heat waves. With the growing public interest in nature combined with the rising tide of eco-anxiety, Scales is not alone in wrestling with feelings of anger and loss but also joy and wonder in the living ocean.
Scales will talk about how writing What the Wild Sea Can Be helped her find a reassuring balance of hopes and fears for the future of life in the ocean. She thinks we need to be both optimistic and pessimistic, and that it's important not to let one feeling push the other out. Instead of turning away from the problems, she encourages readers to understand what’s going on while still feeling a sense of awe and wonder in marine life and demanding a better future for the ocean which is still well within reach.
"Stylish, eloquent . . . Enthralling and richly expressed and highlights how closely our lives depend on the deep" THE GUARDIAN
"Necessary reading for anybody who cares about the future of the planet" James Bradley, author of DEEP WATER
GERED MANKOWITZ
3.30pm 20th October at The Poly​​
Gered Mankowitz is one of the most celebrated photographers in the history of popular music and has created enduring and defining images of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull and many other iconic stars. Some of Gered’s images have become part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
As a teenager, Mankowitz took some of the best-loved photographs of the Rolling Stones in their frantic, formative year. In his new book The Rolling Stones Rare and Unseen, he takes a look beyond those famous images, unearthing frames that have never been seen before, plus those rarely used, to provide a truly fresh look at the greatest story in rock ‘n’ roll.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Times Rock Critic Will Hodgkinson, Gered will talk about the time he spent with the band and the craftmanship – and luck – that went into capturing some of the most memorable shots, while also reflecting on the other artists he’s worked with, from Kate Bush, to Leonard Cohen, George Harrison, Wham, Madness and Oasis.
'SPECTACULAR... YOU TRULY FEEL THE INSANE PACE OF LIFE AS A STONE.'
-VARIETY
'Gered was at one with the band. More than that, for that special time, he was in the band.' -ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM
'He was a hell of a lot of fun. That's why he was a good photographer.'
-MARIANNE FAITHFULL
DAISY GOODWIN: DIVA - THE LEGEND OF MARIA CALLAS
5pm 20th October at The Poly​​
In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas is known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her, Maria learned early in life how to protect herself.
In her New York Times bestselling novel Diva, screenwriter, TV producer and novelist Daisy Goodwin breathes life into the story of one of the greatest opera singer of the 20th century. Delving into the untold story of Callas’s love affair with Aristotle Onassis, she looks at how a life of unbelievable luxury – mixing with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor – falls away overnight when the international press announce that Onassis will marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
“An extraordinary vivid and skilful re-imagining of a modern Greek legend” Victoria Hislop
“A jewel of a novel” Rose Tremain
“The unstoppable story of ambition and desire that enchantress Daisy Goodwin was born to write” Lucy Worsley