Past Events
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James Clarke specialises in writing about cinema. He has worked with Iconic Images in London on a series of books about movie stars and their collaborations with particular photographers. The latest in this series of books is entitled Being Bardot and has just been published in the UK and the US. James also teaches screenwriting and works for the BFI as a Script Reader. James’s other books include: The Virgin Books Film Guide: War Films and Bond: Photographed by Terry O’Neill. James studied Film and Literature at the University of Warwick.
Brigitte Bardot stepped out of French films onto the global stage and remains recognised the world over for her work as an actress, a singer, and an animal rights activist. The photographers Douglas Kirkland and Terry O’Neill both worked with Brigitte Bardot at the peak of her fame in the 1960s and early 1970s, photographing the star on set and behind the scenes. Being Bardot looks at the life and work one of the most-loved faces in 20th-century cinema. Join James Clarke as he talks to Lucinda Hawksley about those images and what it is like to write about an icon of cinema history.
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Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology, he moved to London to pursue a career in journalism and worked as a features editor and agony uncle. He has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, the Guardian and Cosmopolitan. He lives in Birmingham with his wife, kids and greyhound.
Mike became a full-time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by the Independent as ‘full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations’, and by The Times as ‘a funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic’. Since then he has written eighteen novels, including The Man I Think I Know, selected as a World Book Night title, and Half A World Away, selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. In 2021, Mike was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Join Mike as he chats to Lucinda Hawksley about his latest book, A Song of Me and You, for the Goldster Inside Story on 7 July.
When Virginia Woolf published Mrs Dalloway in 1925, it began a whole new literary movement. The novella was written in a fresh, immediate style that has become known as ‘stream of consciousness’. If you’ve not read Mrs Dalloway for years, or have never read Virginia Woolf before, June is the perfect month to read (or re-read) this beautifully crafted, slender volume – because the entire course of the book takes place on one summery June day in London.
The story begins on a seemingly frivolous note, as Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman married to an MP, sets out on a journey to buy flowers for the party she is having that evening. Yet the stories that unfold about the people she meets, or whom she passes, go so much deeper than the superficial. The story is set exactly 100 years ago – five years after the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War. Virginia Woolf, who was part of the famous Bloomsbury Group, was fully aware of the horrors that people had experienced during the war.
On 30 June at midday, join Lucinda Hawksley to chat about this ground-breaking novella, whose themes still remain relevant today, almost a century after it was written.
The Tennis Champion Who Escaped The Nazis is a family memoir. Felice Hardy’s grandparents fled to London with their daughter, escaping from Nazi-occupied Vienna. This book explores their new lives in England, as well as the terrible fate of those loved ones they were forced to leave behind in the Holocaust.
Felice’s grandmother, Liesl Herbst, was the 1930 Tennis Champion of Austria and later beat Tim Henman’s grandmother at Wimbledon. She and her daughter also played doubles at Wimbledon – the only mother and daughter ever to do so. Woven throughout this book is the search for the author’s own identity. She was raised in an emotionally-ravaged family who suffered from survivor’s guilt and buried their pre-war existence beneath a blanket of denial.
Felice is a journalist who has covered diverse subjects ranging from travel and food to sports and fashion. Her first job was at Vogue magazine and this was followed by a period as deputy editor of a ski magazine. She has also co-written more than 20 travel guidebooks.
Join Felice Hardy and Lucinda Hawksley on 29 June, 12pm. Felice will be talking about her writing career, her ancestors and why, as the descendant of two Wimbledon players, she never ceases to wonder why she can barely hit a ball over the net!
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Amanda Craig is the author of nine novels, including her latest book, The Three Graces which is about 3 friends in their 80s, who have retired to Tuscany, where they must stop one grandchild from a disaster wedding, redeem another and save a life…
A State-of-the-Nation novelist whose work has been compared to that of Dickens, Trollope, E.M. Forster and Kate Atkinson, Amanda combines strong, interlinked characters and plots involving crime, romance, social comedy and satire about modern life. Two of her recent novels, Hearts and Minds and The Golden Rule were long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Lie of the Land was made into a Radio 4 ‘Book At Bedtime’. She writes, she says to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”
Join Amanda and Lucinda Hawksley on the Inside Story on 16 June.
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Gerald Dickens is a great great grandson of the author, Charles Dickens. He has been working as an actor, director and producer for many years. In 1993 he created his first one-man show, a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol inspired by Charles’ own energetic readings of the 1860s.
A fascination in the life and works of his subject led him to write and direct further one-man shows including Mr Dickens is Coming!, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, as well as some of the short stories, including the supernatural tale ‘The Signalman’. It was while researching the background to the latter performance that Gerald became fascinated in the circumstances behind the great Staplehurst rail disaster which took place on the 9th June 1865.
In the resulting book, Dickens and Staplehurst. A Biography of a Rail Crash, Gerald investigates the circumstances that led to the accident, both from Charles’ point of view, as well as a technical one. From a study of Charles Dickens’ life to the conclusions of the various official reports, Gerald’s book is a comprehensive study of the tragedy at Staplehurst.
On 15 June, Gerald will be chatting to Lucinda Hawksley (who is also one of his relatives…) on the Inside Story. Join them for a truly Dickensian Goldster event.
This week, it’s a double helping of Hawksleys on Goldster, as Lucinda interviews her co-presenter, Humphrey Hawksley, about his own life as an author and his critically acclaimed novels.
Humphrey is a journalist, and was, for many years, a foreign correspondent for the BBC. He now uses his finely honed journalistic research skills and in-depth knowledge of world politics to create a series of tense and compelling thrillers, featuring an iconic hero, Rake Ozenna. To date, Rake – a native Alaskan – has featured in four books: Ice Islands, Man on Fire, Man on Edge and Man on Ice. Each one will keep you on the edge of your reading chair – and will keep you guessing until the very end.
In response to several requests by Goldster members, Lucinda will be chatting to Humphrey about his writing process, his extensive and fascinating research, his extremely clever plots and how he manages to create such a memorable cast of characters. Join them at 12pm on Friday 2 June.
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Victoria & Abdul is the story of the controversial relationship between Queen Victoria and a young Indian servant called Abdul Karim who arrived in court as a special present for her Golden Jubilee. Soon he became the Queen’s favourite, was promoted to being her Munshi or teacher, taught the Queen Urdu and introduced her to curries. Based on previously unseen journals and letters, Shrabani Basu uncovered this hidden story that rocked the establishment. Her book has since been made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Dame Judi Dench.
Shrabani Basu is a journalist and Sunday Times best-selling author. Her books include the critically acclaimed The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer about Arthur Conan Doyle and the George Edalji case, For King and Another Country about Indian Soldiers on the Western Front in the First World War, Victoria & Abdul and Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.
Shrabani is a frequent commentator on radio and television on Indian history and Empire. She will be chatting to Lucinda Hawksley on the Goldster Inside Story on 1 June.
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Louise Minchin went from presenting BBC Breakfast to competing for the GB Team in Triathlon in the World and European Championship. In her new book Fearless she set out to push herself even further. Over 17 chapters, Louise embarked on terrifying, exhilarating adventures across the UK and the world to be able to tell extraordinary women’s stories – and to test herself. She free dived under the ice in the dark in Finland with the first female to swim a mile in the Antarctic Circle; she cycled across Argentina with one of the world’s most famous female endurance runners; she swam in the shark-infested waters of Alcatraz with two teenage sisters; she explored the dark and wild caves deep under the earth in Somerset, and much more, in the name of exploring what drives these incredible women, their motivation, resilience and determination.
Her book is not only a celebration of the bravery of these particular women, Louise is determined to bust the myth that only certain people can do incredible things and have their own adventures. In Fearless you will find women spanning all backgrounds, religions, ages, body shapes and sizes; women with disabilities, older women, younger women – all doing remarkable things that Louise wants the world to know about. Fearless is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, with fascinating and thrilling moments including some when Louise feared for her life. The book will leave you feeling empowered and inspired to get out there yourself – inspired to be fearless, in fact!
Join the amazing Louise as she chats to Lucinda Hawksley at 6.30pm on Tues 30 March for a very special Goldster Author to Author show.