General Features

This year, Birmingham Book Festival will be hosting around 40 events and workshops. These will include an evening of Chinese literature with Xinran and Diane Wei Liang. As well as the launch of Original Skin, an anthology of short stories from the West Midlands.

Sophie Hannah will be talking about her new crime novel and there will be recordings for BBC Radio Four of short stories written and performed by Mil Millington, Nicola Monaghan, Will Buckingham, Lindsey Davis and Helen Cross.

There will be writing workshops, covering subjects from writing for newspapers to plotting a novel, most of these will take place on 13th October at The Studio, but there are still places for a workshop on 9th September on a canal boat, with poet Jo Bell.  

Writers will be talking and performing at different venues throughout Birmingham.

They will include:

Phil Beadle - 3rd october

South Birmingham College, 7.30pm: Presenter of Channel Four’s The Unteachables on his new book.

Jackie Kay - 12th October

8.15pm, CBSO Centre: Reading from her new book of poems.

Birmingham Conservatoire, 8pm: The musician with her revelatory and nostalgic autobiography.

John Simpson - 16th October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 7pm: Veteran journalist and news reporter.

Tony Benn - 17th October

Brmingham Conservatoire, 7pm: On having More Time for Politics, his latest volume of diaries.

Roger McGough - 18th October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 7.30pm: 40 years after publication of The Mersey Sound, reading with Brian Patten.

Christian Wolmar - 18th October

Library Theatre, 7.45pm: Controversial transport writer with a new history of railways.

Birmingham Conservatoire, 7pm: The popular philosopher with a history of ideas.

Lionel Shriver - 20th October

Birmingham conservatoire, 8pm: Author of We Have to Talk About Kevin on her latest novel.

Jonathan Coe - 20th October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 4.30pm: Author of The Rotters’ Club on his new novel.

Val McDermid - 21st October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 6pm: Crime writer with ITV series Wire in the Blood.

Jaswinder Sanghera - 21st October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 4.30pm: On her non-fiction book Shame.

Birmingham Conservatoire, 11am - 4pm, Festival Readers' Day: Man Booker Prize long-listed novelist published by Birmingham’s Tindal Street Press.

Deborah Moggach - 21st October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 11am - 4pm, Festival Readers' Day: Author of Tulip Feaver and the screenplay for the most recent film of Pride and Prejudice.

Jim Crace - 21st October

Birmingham Conservatoire, 7.45pm: One of our most impressive novelists on The Pesthouse, his latest novel.

Alice Sebold - 13th November

CSBO Centre, 7.30pm: Author of The Lovely Bones on her second novel.

For information on where and when these performances will take place and to book tickets for events and workshops, check the website.