Portsmouth BookFest: Portsmouth Central Library
Andrew Blick and Vernon Bogdanor – Could it Happen Here?
24 February | 19.00
Drawing on Andrew’s latest book Could It Happen Here?, co-authored with Peter Hennessy, this talk examines how resilient our democracy really is — and what we can do to protect it.
Literary Dinner: The Dog at Wingham
John Hemming – English Liberator: William Miller and the Independence of Spanish South America
26 February | 18.00
William the baker’s son from Wingham, rose higher than any village boy from any village anywhere in late-18th-century Britain. He fought, bravely and brilliantly, alongside all the great liberators of Spanish South America (San Martin, Bolivar, Admiral Lord Cochrane and O’Higgins), aged only 27 he was the only foreign general at the final victory, and later became the only foreign Field Marshal ever of Peru, where he is buried in the Pantheon of Founding Fathers. He was then, for fourteen years, the first British diplomat in the Pacific, based in Hawaii.
Jewish Book Week: Hall 1, Kings Place
Vernon Bogdanor – Britain at the Cross Roads
1 March | 18.30
What does Britain’s mounting turbulence mean for its Jewish citizens? In a period marked by rising antisemitism, political distrust, and fraying social cohesion, this conversation brings together experts in their fields to examine the pressures reshaping the nation. Drawing on profound constitutional insight, long experience confronting extremism and safeguarding communities, and a sharp understanding of how media and politics shape both British and Jewish life, Vernon Bogdanor, Margaret Hodge, and David Aaronovitch join Sam Freedman to explore explore what today’s upheavals reveal about Britain itself – and what kind of future the country can plausibly build for its Jewish population and for society as a whole.
Jewish Book Week: Online
Rüdiger Görner – Stefan Zweig: A Literary Life
5 March | 17.00
Exploring his remarkable contribution to world literature, rooted in the Austro-Jewish tradition, In the Future of Yesterday offers a fresh perspective on Stefan Zweig. Founding director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations Rüdiger Görner reexamines his globetrotting life and prolific output, including his influential time in England. He joins Jewish Chronicle chief fiction reviewer David Herman to discuss a towering figure whose vibrant writing reminds us that there can only be a future if we remain conscious of the past.
Words by the Water: The Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
Thomas Bell – Human Nature: A Walking History of the Himalayan Landscape
11 March | 13.30
Former Southeast Asia correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and political officer for the UN in Kathmandu, Thomas Bell explores the interplay between the land and the people who call the Himalaya home. Different forms of migrations, the impact of British imperialism, agriculture and environmental degradation are just some of the things he examines through four walks across the central Himalaya region of Nepal – one of the world’s most enigmatic regions.