Birkenhead-born writer, David Roberts has a passion for shipyards and literature. A mix of metal, blood and tears came to mind as we talked about his life and the literature course he has been teaching in the Algarve. I had seen the course advert at São Brás de Alportel Museum, and I had it in the…
The Hay Festival programme is out. Details arrived by email on Saturday, which is fortunate as the next letter of the A-Z writing challenge is H. The Hay Literature Festival is more than a book event. It is two weeks of stimulation and reflective entertainment. This year the dates are 26 May to 5 June We…
One of the liveliest sessions of Flipside, was created by the presence of Will Self. Having been asked about their books, Bernardo Carvalho and Will Self shared their thoughts on identity. Will explained that he enjoyed exploring women characters “as he is not a very manly man”. “It is like shape shifting to explore the…
This last event at Flipside, was introduced by Liz Calder, as a celebration of some of Brazil’s writers. Everyone attending the workshop was given the book “Other Carnivals – New stories from Brazil”. This is a book of 12 short stories and four of the authors, were not only present, but they read parts of…
The sun and smiles came out for the 3rd day and final day of the Flipside Festival. Identity was the theme that permeated the day yesterday and dislocation and exile is the undercurrent to the first session today. Adriana Lisboa and James Scudamore both shared aspects of their novels that delve into this rich source…
In the lunchtime event on Sunday at Flipside, the author Alex Bellos talked to Susie Nicklin from the British Council, about the Brazilian defeat in the 1950’s World Cup to Uruguay. As old footage was shown, Bellos commentated and explained the coverage which focused both on the pitch and the animated and excited crowd. He…
The Snape Maltings setting for this International Festival is full of contrasts with Paraty, the home of FLIP. Arriving early on Saturday morning, meant I was able to not only see the setting up of the Festival, but I also wandered around, a very English Farmer’s market. The market did have echoes of Portugal and…
Snape Maltings, in west Suffolk, is the home of Aldeburgh Music, which is renowned as an outstanding year-round performance centre. On Friday evening, the Flipside Literature and Music Festival opened with “The boys from Ipanema”, by paying tribute to the composer and essayist Vincius de Moraes and the musician Antonio Carlos Jobin. They “boys” (actually…
A couple of years ago a few book enthusiasts organised an event for young people at the Library in Tavira. The idea was that children of different cultures would come together and share their favourite books and read in their own language from those books. Children practiced their reading aloud to an audience and each other and…