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Hindustan Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Bookmark your calendar: Explore the best literature festivals in the UK
The literary heritage of the UK is rich and varied. William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, shaped English drama from Stratford-upon-Avon while Jane Austen's wit and romance seem to echo through Bath, where she once lived and wrote. The Brontë sisters crafted gothic masterpieces from their moorland home in Haworth, and Charles Dickens portrayed Victorian London with vivid realism and social critique. Oxford inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice tales, and also played muse to CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. The Lake District, home of Wordsworth, remains a poetic pilgrimage for lovers of Romanticism while Edinburgh, the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, celebrates writers from Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns to Conan Doyle and JK Rowling. The UK also has a plethora of literature-focused museums, including the Writer's Museum in Edinburgh, the Beatrix Potter museum in the Lake District, the Charles Dickens museum in his former home in London, and the Sherlock Holmes museum (also in London) devoted to Doyle's super-sleuth, and more. From ancient epics to modern fantasy, Britain's literature continues to shape global storytelling. It's no surprise that the nation plays host to many top-class literature festivals through the year. Apart from the biggies like Hay Festival (May 23-June 2) and Edinburgh International Book Festival (August 9-24), there are unusual ones too: Chalke Valley, Dorset, hosts the world's biggest history festival (June 23-29); Ledbury offers a chance to attend the UK's biggest poetry festival (June 27-July 6); and gore takes centre stage at Harrogate's Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Festival (July 17-20). Whether you're a reader or a writer these literary festivals spotlight not just books and authors but also community and inspiration. So, bookmark this list and shore up your literary travel plans for the rest of 2025. Belfast Book FestivalJune 5-12 The Crescent Arts Centre is home to one of the biggest events in Northern Ireland's literary calendar: the Belfast Book Festival. In its 15th edition, the diverse and creative programme will continue its annual celebration of storytelling. The festival organisers have promised a varied programme that includes contemporary fiction, poetry, crime writing, film, the art of journalism, and an exhibition. Earlier participants include Cecelia Ahern, Kevin Barry, Fergal Keane, Jacqueline Wilson, Colm Tóibín, and Paul Lynch. The annual Mairtín Crawford Awards offer support for emerging writers. Sophie Hayles, CEO of The Crescent Arts Centre, has said 'there's some big hitters on there as well as a championing of upcoming and emerging talent - something for everyone, those who are avid readers and those looking to turn the page'. Bradford Literature FestivalJune 27-July 6 One of the UK's largest literature festivals, the Bradford Literature Festival has, since inception 10 years ago, engaged over seven lakh people from 30 countries. Located in the heart of Yorkshire, Bradford, the literature hub of the North, has been named as UK City of Culture 2025 – this makes the festival the perfect time to explore the beautiful city that grew on the back of its textile industry that goes back to the 13th century. Inviting book lovers to explore words and discover worlds, the festival's line up will showcase literature, theatre, music, cultural discussions and lectures. With more than 600 events that will also spotlight politics, world affairs, the climate crisis, and health and wellbeing, the idea is to spark dialogue and foment change. Islay Book FestivalAugust 28-31 Scotland's whisky isle hosts this festival that grew out of a small book club launched in Port Ellen. Founded in 2006, the Islay Book Festival is now a volunteer-run event that's a permanent fixture on the island's busy annual events calendar and on Argyll's cultural scene. The festival has brought in a range of authors, poets, and storytellers, including Ali Smith, Julia Donaldson, Val McDermid, Iain Banks, Ruth Rendell, Chris Brookmyre, Alistair Moffat, Mairi Hedderwick, Colin MacIntyre, Bernard MacLaverty and Ian Rankin. Apart from sessions on crime, historical writing, contemporary fiction, non-fiction, new writing, poetry, performances, and workshops, the festival aims to spotlight Islay's Gaelic culture. Bloody Scotland September 12-14 This Scottish international crime writing festival, held every year in Stirling, was founded in 2012 by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray. It prides itself on being the literary festival 'where you can let your hair down and enjoy a drink at the bar with your favourite crime writer'. The festival includes entertaining and informative events on an array of criminal subjects such as cosy crime, psychological thrillers, forensics, and more. On the sidelines, emerging crime writers can pitch novels they are working on to publishing experts at the Pitch Perfect event. In 2025, Ian Rankin, creator of Detective John Rebus, has been chosen the first guest programmer for Bloody Scotland. He is working in tandem with Festival Director Bob McDevitt to create a thrilling line up. In an interview to The Independent, Rankin said Bloody Scotland was 'epic' and 'manages to remain the world's friendliest and most inclusive crime fiction festival while also attracting the biggest and brightest names in the business to the city of Stirling'. The Queen's Reading Room FestivalChatsworth, Derbyshire, 20 September The one-day Queen's Reading Room Festival grew out of Queen Camilla's online book club launched during the pandemic. It began with Charlie Mackesy and his wonderfully illustrated The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse in January 2021, and became a charity in February 2023. Held at Hampton Court Palace last year, it drew Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Mary Beard, Ian Rankin, Kate Mosse and Miriam Margolyes, along with actors like Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter, and Derek Jacobi bringing alive poetry and Shakespeare. This year, too, Camilla continues on her mission: to foster in adults and children alike 'a lifelong love of literature and connect more people with that special magic that can only be found in the leaves of a book'. The Coast is QueerOctober 9-12 The first festival of its kind in the UK, The Coast is Queer brings together queer readers, writers and allies in a 'celebration of the written word and its ability to illuminate and enrich the life of the community'. The UK has seen a sudden rise in the number of queer book shops opened and LGBTQ+ titles published in the last few years. The Coast is Queer, a celebration of local and global literature in Brighton, the UK's queerest city, was established by New Writing South and Marlborough Productions in 2019 to mark this change. Authors, poets, scriptwriters, performers, activists and audiences congregate at Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts for the festival of talks, books, and ideas from a LGBTQ+ perspective. Cheltenham Literature FestivalOctober 10-19 The world's longest-running literature festival has been celebrating the written and spoken word since 1949. Spotlighting literary bigwigs and top speakers alongside the best new voices in fiction and poetry, the festival is held at a range of venues, including the Cheltenham Town Hall, Everyman Theatre, Queens Hotel, and Dunkertons Taproom. The lineup for 2025 hasn't been announced yet, but it promises to be stellar considering last year's: Judi Dench, Michael Palin, Miriam Richard Ayoade, Jodi Picoult, and Nick Hornby. This year, the team has also curated a seven-night sailing on board Queen May 2 for the Literature Festival at Sea, which will bring together authors, poets, journalists, historians, and book lovers. Durham Book Festival October 10-12 One of the UK's oldest literary festivals, Durham Book Festival is organised in and around the beautiful cathedral city south of Newcastle upon Tyne. Thinkers, writers, and performers, including Philip Pullman, Bill Bryson, PD James, Jung Chang, Rebecca F. Kuang, Pat Barker, and Simon Armitage, have appeared at earlier editions. Alongside the traditional author events and discussions, Durham Book Festival commissions new writing across varied forms and formats each year. Earlier commissions include historian David Olusoga's essay Black and British: Growing up in the North East; a dance-theatre retelling of Rapunzel by Poet Laureate; and a reading of Durham writer Benjamin Myers' novel, Cuddy, with performances from Toby Jones and music from the Shining Levels. London Literature FestivalOctober 23-November 2 Held in 2007 for the first time to celebrate the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall, London Literature Festival has become a highlight of the UK's literary calendar. The 10-day festival features conversations and talks with popular writers, upcoming authors, and those keen to make a career with the written or spoken word. Held at Southbank over the October half term, the festival encourages children and teenagers to attend. Highlights include an Open Day by the National Poetry Library that allows booklovers to explore the world's largest public modern poetry collection, and 'Out-Spoken', a resident poetry and live music night that champions diversity in poetry. The Mallaig Book FestivalNovember 7-9 Perhaps the friendliest book festival of them all, A Write Highland Hoolie combines literature, poetry and music in an immersive weekend. The Hoolie began in 2016 when Sine Davis, owner of West Highland Hotel, and author Polly Pullar teamed up to create something unique 'with everyone under one roof and music in the evenings – a real West Highland ceilidh atmosphere'. The eclectic includes a range of events spanning crime, history, nature, fiction, folklore, poetry, memoir, and outdoor pursuits. Scottish writer Alistair Moffat believes stories are how we understand the world and 'in the midst and the warmth of a Highland ceilidh, unforgettable stories are told, links made and remade, and at the end of a memorable weekend, the world seems somehow better'. Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Lang Lang review – captivating, astonishing and disorientating
Think what you will of Lang Lang's brand of pianist-celebrity, but his technical control is absolute. The right-hand melody of Fauré's Pavane was so smooth it might have been glued together. Descant lines tinkled like a tiny music box. His left hand was heavyweight throughout, as if he had decided to turn up the bass. Such oddity was nothing compared to his take on Schumann's Kreisleriana – a set of eight self-consciously eccentric miniatures. Lang Lang launched himself on to the keyboard for the first, driving hard and loud, his hands flying theatrically at the end. For contrast: more of that hushed music-box tone and passages of precious, gossamer delicacy before instantaneous switches back into muscular rollicking dissonance. A more-is-more approach to the sustaining pedal turned some moments into spectacular slush. Just occasionally, there was a magical, quiet sense of storytelling and the penultimate movement was suddenly, playfully dry (pedal briefly abandoned) until yet another gear change into a passage smashed out so quickly it blurred. In the final movement Lang's ever-dominant left hand treated Schumann like Rachmaninov. With barely a break between most movements, it was a disorientating listen, the audience helped along only by Lang's repertoire of physical cues: face lifted upwards, eyes closed; body hunched intensely over the keys; arms whirling away from the piano as if it was scorching. The second half was mainly Chopin Mazurkas. Once again, Lang allowed few gaps between individual numbers. Once again, there were crystalline quiet moments, loudly galumphing moments (accompanied periodically by stamping) and moments that hauled Chopin monumentally into the world of late Romanticism. Yet Lang's rhythmic freedom was astonishing, his sense of producing each number as an improvisation utterly captivating. In his hands, this familiar music became quite alien. By partway through the mazurka-fest, wriggling and coughing were constant. But if defamiliarisation wasn't what some audience members had hoped for, their reward was Chopin's Polonaise in F sharp minor played as a vigorous romp, which precipitated an explosive ovation barely calmed by two encores – 'Chopin' from Schumann's Carnaval and Debussy's Clair de Lune – the latter so exquisitely quiet it seemed to emanate from elsewhere.
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bartók: Piano Works album review
The six works in Sonya Bach's collection are well-chosen to provide a handy guide to the evolution of Bartók's piano music, from its Lisztian beginnings in the early years of the 20th century, through its celebration of the wealth of his native Hungarian folk music to the expressionist power of his writing for the instrument in the 1920s. Those roots in late Romanticism are laid bare in the Four Piano Pieces from 1903, and in many ways it's the work that shows Bach's pianism off to best advantage, revealing a subtlety of touch and keyboard colour that she doesn't allow herself in the later music. In pieces such as the Three Studies of 1918 or the Piano Sonata, which appeared eight years later, there's a relentless, unremitting quality to her playing, which may reflect one important aspect of Bartók's writing, but which even at its most extreme doesn't tell the whole story, despite the obvious technical mastery she shows in projecting it. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
Arab News
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Book Review: ‘The Wisdom of the Romantics' by Michael K. Kellogg
Due for publication by the imprint Prometheus in May 2025 and now available for preorder, 'The Wisdom of the Romantics' by Michael K. Kellogg explores the complexities and contradictions of the artistic and intellectual movement Romanticism. Kellogg, a philosopher and author of several books on intellectual history, including 'The Wisdom of the Renaissance,' 'The Wisdom of the Middle Ages,' and 'The Greek Search for Wisdom,' delves into how Romanticism emphasized 'sensibility, inspiration, individual freedom, emotional intensity, introspection, sincerity, and heightened imagination,' in reaction to the 'over-reliance on reason' during the Enlightenment period. Kellogg highlights the contradictions within Romanticism itself, noting that it 'is beauty and ugliness. It is art for art's sake, and art as an instrument of social salvation. It is strength and weakness, individualism and collectivism, purity and corruption, revolution and reaction, peace and war, love of life and love of death.' These attributes, Kellogg argues, were fully embraced by the Romantics, in contrast to the rationalists who rejected them. Romanticism, which lasted between 1780 and 1850, emerged as a reaction against the Enlightenment's rigid focus on reason and the Industrial Revolution's emphasis on progress and rationality. It flourished across literature, art, music and philosophy, embracing intense emotion and highly individual expression. It romanticized the very notion of romanticism. Kellogg also slips into the world of words from a range of writers that fit that timeframe, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Honore de Balzac, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Friedrich Hegel, and William Wordsworth to Jane Austen. He argues that Romanticism is a 'highly subjective enterprise,' where defining it is not about finding a fixed definition but about embracing its contradictions and diversity. The book is slightly dense; it feels drawn from a college mandatory reading list. At the same time, it is witty and playful. It almost requires the reader to also be a dreamer and a romantic to enjoy the writing of this era — and about this era. In addition to writing several books, Kellogg is a founding and managing partner at the law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC. He also holds degrees from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard Law School, proving that he is, in fact, the perfect person to merge logic and heart within a book — and, dare I declare, a true Romantic.
Associated Press
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Launch of a New Website Dedicated to the Revolutionary Composer Emanuel Bach
/ -- has launched a dedicated website for the renowned yet often overlooked composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (C.P.E. Bach): As the second son of J.S. Bach, Emanuel Bach developed a unique musical style known as the Empfindsamer Stil (Sensitive Style), characterized by delicate nuances, bold modulations, and deep emotional expression. His compositions, often considered a precursor to Romanticism, continue to captivate listeners today. The newly launched website offers access to his significant works, including his concertos and sonatas, with YouTube performances and accompanying commentaries. A dedicated blog on the site also details the process of building this extensive resource. Exploring Emanuel Bach's Musical Innovations This website serves as a comprehensive guide to Emanuel Bach's music, featuring individual analyses of his compositions along with curated performance videos. It delves into his distinctive compositional techniques and innovations while also exploring the influences that shaped his music and the impact he had on later composers. Additionally, the site highlights the instruments and musical styles used in his works, allowing visitors to compare performances of the same piece on different instruments, such as the clavichord and piano. The resurgence of interest in Emanuel Bach's music in the 20th century, along with the increasing number of performances uploaded to YouTube, has made the creation of such a resource possible. Purpose of the Website The goal of this website is not only to introduce Emanuel Bach's lesser-known works but also to serve as a valuable reference for listeners. While the site was constructed with the aid of ChatGPT, the availability of reliable information on Emanuel Bach remains limited. Thus, another key objective is to establish a credible online resource for those interested in his music. About Emanuel Bach The 18th century was a period of significant development for keyboard instruments, including the clavichord, harpsichord, and early piano—predecessors to the modern piano. While Beethoven is often credited for his contributions to piano music and instrument development, it was Emanuel Bach who, half a century earlier, played a crucial role in composing, performing, and educating musicians about keyboard instruments. His treatise on keyboard playing remains an essential reference even today and is available in various languages, including Japanese. Emanuel Bach's style, known as Empfindsamer Stil, is distinguished by its nuanced expression, daring harmonic shifts, and profound emotional depth—foreshadowing Romantic music. Though he influenced many Classical composers, including Haydn and Mozart, his music also anticipated elements of Beethoven and the Romantic period, while retaining a uniquely individual character that was not fully absorbed into later styles. While Emanuel Bach learned extensively from his father, Johann Sebastian Bach, he also drew inspiration from composers of the late Baroque era, such as Vivaldi and Domenico Scarlatti. His keyboard compositions, in particular, had a profound impact on early Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Though his works became less frequently performed in the 19th century, a revival of interest in the latter half of the 20th century has led to a growing appreciation of his music today. About Dasyn has been developing proprietary 3D printing technology since 2014, specializing in the production and sale of '3D Design Lamps' featuring transparent shades and LED bulbs, available on platforms such as Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping. Since 2022, Dasyn has also been creating AI-generated artworks using Stable Diffusion, selling them through online marketplaces. Alongside its original website ( and 3D Design Lamp site, Dasyn has now launched this new website dedicated to Emanuel Bach's music.
