Tickets go on sale for Derby Book Festival’s Autumn Edition

Tickets are now on sale for Derby Book Festival’s Autumn Edition, which this year features 28 events taking place at venues across the city.

Held from Thursday 12 November to Sunday 15 November, the event features a top line-up of authors talking about books covering a range of topics.

Funded by Arts Council England and the University of Derby, with sponsorship for a number of individuals and businesses in the region, Autumn Edition events will be held in venues across the city including QUAD, Derby Theatre, St Peter’s Church, Derby Museums’ Museum of Making, the Market Hall and local libraries.

Highlights of this year’s festival include journalist and war correspondent Fergal Keane who will be talking to BBC Midlands correspondent Navtej Johal about his 37 years of reporting for the BBC covering major conflicts across the world.

Investigative journalist and presenter of BBC’s HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur will also be talking to Navtej about ‘Hard Truth: Investigations that Shook the World’.

Former Conservative Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Jeremy Hunt, will also be talking about his book ‘Can We Be Rich Again? The Surprising Potential of Britain’s Economy’.

And author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera will talk about ‘Tonight the Music Seems so Loud: The Meaning of George Michael’.

History buffs can look forward to historians Tessa Dunlop, Paul Beaver, David Torrance, Dr Jess Venner and Professor Paul A Elliott discussing their latest books, while novelists Louisa Young and Mary Lawson also appear.

There will also be a range of events for children and families, while the free University of Derby CivicLAB events will take place at the Derby Theatre Community Hub.

The festival will also include a Book and Craft Market at the Market Hall on Saturday 7 November.

Alongside independent publishers, the festival’s Shared Reading team will be in attendance along with the Derby Book Festival book stall with books from past events.

Following the success of previous Book Appeals, the festival is organising another Children’s Book Appeal to coincide with the Autumn Edition.

To date the Book Appeals have collected and distributed over 22,000 books to organisations in Derby, including to many schools.

People are invited to donate gently used, pre-loved books suitable for primary school children.

Drop off venues include partners Marketing Derby‘s Derby City Lab, Derbion, Moorways Sports Centre, Wathall’s and QUAD.

Local businesses are also getting involved with collections from staff, including Rolls-Royce.

Festival audiences can also bring their books to events where they will be gratefully received.

Jamie Jordan, chair of Derby Book Festival, said: “Derby Book Festival’s Autumn Edition is always a high point as we start to hibernate – and what could be better than stocking up with some great reading material for the winter months.

“If you haven’t visited the festival before, the Autumn Edition is a great taster of what to expect in our main festival – we hope Derby residents will enjoy what we have to offer.”

The festival programme, designed by digital marketing company Gravity Digital, is now available from QUAD, other arts venues, all libraries and tourist offices.

To book tickets for all Autumn Edition events, click here.