Festival of literature to celebrate great authors

For the past twelve years, the Oundle Festival of Literature has celebrated the love of great books.

The Festival of Literature holds many one-off events throughout the year and this November a number of interesting events are taking place.

On November 10, you can hear author Harry Mount talk about his latest exploits in his latest book Harry Mount’s Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus.

In Harry Mount’s Odyssey the author of the bestselling Amo Amas Amat and All That, found himself embarking on his own odyssey, attempting to follow in the footsteps of ancient Greece’s greatest son, Odysseus. Harry visits Troy, still looming over the plain where Achilles dragged Hector’s body through the dust, and attempts to swim the Hellespont, in emulation o f Lord Byron a nd t he doomed Greek lover, Leander. Whether i n Odysseus’s kingdom on Ithaca, Homer’s birthplace of Chios or the Minotaur’s l air on Crete, Mount brings the Odyssey - and ancient Greece - back to life.

Tickets for the talk, taking place at St Peter’s Church in Oundle, are priced at £8 (£6 concessions) and are available from the Oundle Box Office in New Street, Oundle. The talk will take place from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

On November 27, Tony Little talks about his controversial new book: An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Education at St Peter’s Church in Oundle.

What is education for? What kind of people does society need? Have we become a nation ‘over schooled and under educated’? Tony Little, recently retired Headmaster of Eton, the world’s most celebrated school, provides a unique insight into these fundamental questions about how we approach education and make our schoolchildren fit for the modern world.

There is a crisis in the British education system. Year on year GCSE and A Level pupils post better exam results, with more students achieving top grades. Yet business leaders and employers complain bitterly that our schools are not producing people fit for purpose.

Far from being locked in an ivory tower, a bastion of privilege, Mr Little has used his time as a teacher and headmaster to get to grips with fundamental questions concerning education. He wants to produce people fit to work in the modern world. How do children absorb information? What kind of people does society need? What is education for? Not only is the author one of the great reforming headmasters of our time but he has planted Academies in the East End of London, founded a state boarding school near Windsor and yet is a passionate advocate of single sex schools.

Tickets for the talk, taking place from 7.45 pm until 8.45pm, are priced at £8 (£6 concessions) and are available from the Oundle Box Office in New Street, Oundle.

On December 4, acclaimed historian, Alison Weir describes the life of The Lost Tudor Princess: Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox at the Great Hall in New Street, Oundle.

Tickets for the talk, taking place from 7pm to 8pm, are priced at £8 (£6 concessions) and are available from the Oundle Box Office in New Street, Oundle.

To find out more about the Oundle Festival of Literature please visit the website at http://www.ou nd le litfe st. org.uk/

Any queries call Helen on 07743988181 or e- mail oundlelitfestival@hotmail.co.uk