Literary Quiz

Friday 27th September

£14 per person to include a glass of wine

The quiz is a week before the festival weekend. Tables are for six people but we can allocate tables to anyone who wishes to join individually. If you do want to come as a party of six, please be sure to make it clear when you book and to give us the names of your party.

We hope that people attending the quiz will also buy tickets for at least one Bookfest event.

Chris Stokel-Walker

How Al Ate the World:
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence – And What It Means for All of Us

10am – llam

This is the ultimate ‘start here’ guide for anyone who wants to know more about how Al will affect our lives. With his access to Silicon Valley insiders and a popular touch, Chris has woven together a fast-paced, balanced narrative perfect for the general reader.

He visited the laboratories of the Silicon Valley disruptors making rapid advances in ‘large language models’ of machine learning and discovered their grand plans for their products. He has also explored the ‘dark side’ of Al by speaking to workers who have lost their jobs to chatbots, and to futurologists worried that we are creating a dangerous super-intelligence that could threaten mankind.

Whether we like it or not, Al will be integrated into the technology that shapes, and increasingly runs, our lives: this indispensable book urgently sets out why that matters.

Chris Stokel-Walker is a technology journalist who writes for the BBC, the Guardian and the New York Times.

His 2021 book TikTok Boom, the first popular history of TikTok, has been reprinted three times.

Daisy Goodwin

Diva

with Ruth Pavey

11.30am – 12.30pm

This is a novel, not a biography, about Maria Callas. Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. Callas was a heroine with a superpower, a voice that entranced the whole world and someone who never doubted her own worth.

She became famous not just for her talent, but also for her private life. She wanted recognition, but for her art, not for being the elegant woman at the side of the world’s richest man. But suddenly her relationship with Onassis is over and he leaves her for Jacqueline Kennedy and Maria has to pick up the pieces.

Daisy Goodwin’s work as a television producer includes Reader I Married Him, Bookworm, and The Nation’s Favourite Poems; she is also the creator of Grand Designs and the ITV programme Victoria. Daisy has also written three best-selling novels.

Antonia Fraser said: ‘I’ve been completely overwhelmed by Diva: by the pleasure of reading such a marvellous ardent, romantic yet utterly worldly book:

Daisy will be in conversation with Ruth Pavey, a writer and journalist who particularly writes about contemporary fiction.

Tim Tate

To Catch a Spy
How the Spycatcher Affair Brought M/5 in from the Cold

with Andrew Lownie

11.30am – 12.30pm

Tate’s To Catch a Spy uncovers the British government’s attempts to silence whistleblower Peter Wright and hide truths about Britain’s intelligence services. This conversation promises to delve into espionage, government cover-ups, and political scandals.

Dominic Holland

Takes On Life

1pm – 2pm

Dominic is the author of several books including his non-fiction series of comic essays, Takes on Life.

These consist of anecdotes and will form the spine of his presentation. The essays cover everyone’s lives, teasing out the idiosyncrasies which plague us all. The best humour is found in things we can all relate to.

Well known as an award-winning stand-up comedian, Dominic is also the author of the recently published Open Links, voted the best golf novel by Golf Monthly. It is a novel for all readers who still dare to dream.

Sue Gee

Interactive Creative Writing Workshop
Discovering and developing character in fiction

1.30pm – 3.30pm
The Hayloft at The Talbot
£25.00 per person

‘Who is Sarah? Out of what shadows does she come?’ – John Fowles

Sometimes characters fall on to the page fully formed. More often, getting to know them takes thought and time and drafting. In this lively interactive workshop we will read and discuss examples of strong characterisation from contemporary fiction and write in response to exercises. There will be an opportunity to read your work to the group and to ask lots of questions!

The workshop will be limited to 12 people and will last for two hours.

In July 2024 Sue Gee was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature for her work with other authors. Her most recent book is Just You & the Page: Encounters with Twelve Writers (2021). She ran the MA in Creative Writing at Middlesex University and currently teaches at the Faber Academy.

Alexandra Harris

with Peter Guttridge

The Rising Down

2.30pm – 3.30pm

Upstairs at Bookfest

West Sussex was the childhood home of cultural historian Alexandra Harris but when she returned, she realised that she barely knew the place at all. She began to probe beneath the surface and the result is a luminous feat of time travel, chronicling lives in a Sussex landscape.

From the painter John Constable to the modernist writer Ford Madox Ford, to the lost local women spanning the Downs, Poland, Australia, Canada, these electrifying encounters inspired the author to imagine lives that were deeply connected through their shared landscape.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Alexandra Harris’s earlier books have been shortlisted for numerous prizes. She is Professor of English at Birmingham University and reviews regularly for the Guardian and other newspapers.
Peter Guttridge, author and West Sussex resident, will be talking to Alexandra Harris.

John Crace

with Gerry Foley

Depraved New World

4pm – 5pm

Before the recent election, Britain seemed to change prime ministers practically on a monthly basis. Nonsense seemed to spew forth constantly from Westminster over the past few years but the nation was cheered through all the shenanigans by John Crace’s brilliantly lacerating political sketches in the Guardian. Taking in everything from Partygate, BoJo’s drawn out farewell, the disastrous reign of Liz Truss, the psychodrama of the Tory leadership contests and the return of Rishi Sunak, John Crace’s Depraved New World is a worryingly funny collection which captures British politics at its most absurd.

And now since 4th July, John has a whole new set of possibilities for his blisteringly hilarious pen and will no doubt find plenty to talk about with Gerry Foley, formerly a political journalist and now a regular interviewer on the literary festival circuit.

Giles Smith

with Michael Odell

My My! ABBA
Through the Ages

5.30pm – 6.30pm

2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision song contest. How is it that half a century ABBA later this Seventies act is bigger than ever? Giles Smith, writer and music fan, sets out to find out why.

It’s a book about growing old, and the things that never do. And it’s a book about fashion, snobbery, authenticity,critical judgement, the passage of time and the triumphant ability of truly great pop music to transcend all of those things forever.

The Spectator said’,..at last a book that’s worthy of ABBA’,

Giles Smith is the author of the pop memoir Lost in Music and a spoof memoir of the comic-strip footballer Roy of the Rovers. My My! ABBA Through the Ages was the Sunday Times Book of the Week in April. Michael Odell will be in conversation with Giles.

Matthew Goodwin

with Gerry Foley

Values, Voice and Virtue

5.30pm – 6.30pm Upstairs at Bookfest

Over the last decade, Britain has experienced a series of political upheavals, including the rise of national populism, the Brexit vote, Boris Johnson’s 2019 election victory, the fall of Labour’s Red Wall, and a new brand of conservatism. These events have outflanked the liberal establishment. Matthew Goodwin reveals that this political turbulence has been long in the making, driven by divides over ‘values; ‘voice; and ‘virtue; pushing us into an era of political volatility.

Professor of Politics at the University of Kent and author of National Populism, Matthew has advised over 200 organisations on political issues.

Gerry Foley will be in conversation with Matthew. He is a frequent chair at events.

Polly Toynbee

with Steven Gale

An Uneasy Inheritance

10am -11am

Polly Toynbee’s ancestors have long been leftwing advocates for justice, yet they have always led prosperous lives in academia or journalism. This raises questions about their ideals of class equality.

Through examining her own family, Toynbee explores the myth of mobility and the guilt of privilege, and asks for a truly honest conversation about class in Britain.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist and broadcaster and one of the most respected, prolific and razor-sharp voices in social commentary.

She will be in conversation with Steven Gale who has worked at literary festivals all over the world.

Gavin Jamieson

Water’s Gleaming Gold
The Story of Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards

10am -11am Upstairs at Bookfest

In early 1943, a solitary airman lies injured and exhausted on an inflatable raft in the Atlantic. He is Wing Commander Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards, the only survivor of a crew of eight and one of the greatest oarsmen of all time. In 1932, he won two rowing Olympic gold medals. Now he must row for his life.

This tale of a man of courage and conviction is told by Gavin Jamieson, local author and board member of Cuckfield Book Festival.

Historian Dan Snow said: ‘A true Olympic and rowing hero, and a story that is both fantastic and truly dramatic:

 Adam Kay and Henry Paker

Dexter Proctor the Ten-Year-Old Doctor

Meet Dexter Procter, the world‘s youngest doctor!

Speaking at four seconds old, earning 87 A-levels by age three, and working as a paediatrician by ten, Dexter is truly extraordinary. Join Adam Kay and Henry Paker in their laugh-out-loud debut fiction book to discover if Dexter can save his job, the school, and find his place in the world.

This interactive session with Adam and Henry promises lots of fun. Bring your drawing materials and get ready for a hilarious adventure. Jacqueline Wilson says ‘children will love all the disgusting parts’

Nicola Clark

with Jo Durrant

The Waiting Game

1pm – 2pm

Upstairs at Bookfest

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen’s ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

The Waiting Game explores their daily lives, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. As Henry VIII changed wives, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn’t exist before.

Nicola is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Chichester. Her first book, Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

Nicola will be talking to Jo Durrant who worked for BBC radio before becoming freelance. She now appears at many literary, history and science festivals as an event chair.

Simon Toyne

Dark Objects

Tom Mead

Cabaret Macabre

with Peter Guttridge

2.30pm – 3.30pm Upstairs at Bookfest

‘Locked-room’ murder mysteries are a very popular crime and detective fiction genre. The crime is committed in circumstances where it would appear impossible for the perpetrator to enter the crime scene, commit the crime, and leave undetected.

Simon Toyne and Tom Mead are both masters of the art. Simon’s Dark Objects is a locked-room mystery set in Highgate where a forensics expert Laughton Rees hunts an unusually clever killer who appears to be staging murder scenes just for her in this twisty psychological thriller.

Tom Mead’s latest book Cabaret Macabre is a locked-room murder mystery set in an English country house just before the Second World War. A body is found in impossible circumstances – a bullet is fired through a locked window without breaking the glass. Sleuth and illusionist Joseph Spector must investigate.

Simon and Tom will be in conversation with Peter Guttridge, himself an author of a locked-room mystery that won the Margery Allingham award. All three will be discussing the history of the genre and why they enjoy writing them.

Zeinab Badawi

An African History of Africa

From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence

4pm – 5pm

This fascinating and epic history is told through the voices of Africans themselves – from the origins of our species, through ancient civilisations and medieval empires with remarkable kings and queens, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence,

For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by Western narratives of slavery and colonialism or simply ignored, An African History of Africa unearths buried histories from across the continent and weaves them into an accessible and essential book, giving Africa its rightful place.

Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning journalist and film maker and President of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

She will be in conversation with Nigerian author Ike Anya who came to Cuckfield Bookfest last year to talk about his book Small by Small.

Anna Doble

with Jo Durrant

Connection is a Song

Coming Up and Coming Out Through the Music of the ’90s

4pm – 5pm Upstairs at Bookfest

It is 1994, in a loft bedroom in North Yorkshire. 15-year-old Anna sits immersed in the pages of Smash Hits, listening to cassette tapes she keeps in a shoebox. She dreams of living inside the songs. British pop music is about to be transformed and will leap from pop to rave to Britpop. This new universe will change Anna’s life.

This is a powerful coming-of-age story, and also a coming-out story, about growing up in a provincial English town. It is the tale of an outsider who, through connections made at gigs and other things, finds the people and the places that will take her to her life.

Anna Doble is a journalist and the digital editor at BBC World Service. She has previously worked at BBC1 and Channel 4 News.

Anna will be in conversation with Jo Durrant who worked for BBC radio before becoming freelance. She now appears at many literary, history and science festivals as an event chair.

Adam Sharp

The Wheel is Spinning but the Hamster is Dead

A Journey Around the World in Idioms,
Proverbs and General Nonsense

5.30pm – 6.30pm
The Hayloft at The Talbot

Join wordsmith Adam Sharp for an entertaining show blending stand-up and excerpts from his book as he journeys around the world in idioms, proverbs and general nonsense. Learn unusual insults from France (You are a potato with the face of a guinea pig), how to hurry someone up in the US (You’re going as slow as molasses in January) and what they call a shark in Vietnam (fat fish).

Adam has rounded up the very best ridiculous and hilarious translations from around the globe – so let’s get this show on the road! Or…Let’s saddle the chickens! (German) On with the butter! (Icelandic) Forward with the goat! (Dutch.)

‘Brilliant, hilarious fun – you will LOVE this book’ – Kit de Waal