Special Offer! Reduced prices on selected tickets until 31st October – see individual event pages for details.

What’s On

For a handy overview of the festival visit the Festival Diary here.

  • Helen Carr – Sceptred Isle – A New History of the Fourteenth Century

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    In a thrilling narrative account, Helen Carr sheds new light on a pivotal period of English history in the first book to cover the whole of the fourteenth century in over thirty years. Beginning with the death of Edward I in 1307, and ending with the deposition of Richard II in 1399, Sceptred Isle is ... Helen Carr – Sceptred Isle – A New History of the Fourteenth Century

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Christopher Somerville – Britain’s Best Walks

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Christopoher Somerville has covered the length and breadth of the UK on foot, and has written and broadcast about its history, landscape, wildlife and people for over 25 years. In this extensive new volume, he selects his top 200 routes from his hugely popular Times column, A Good Walk. More than just a basic guidebook, ... Christopher Somerville – Britain’s Best Walks

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • David Walsh and Pippa York – The Escape: The Tour, The Cyclist and Me

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    The first memoir from one of British cycling’s most enigmatic characters. In the summer of 2020 sportswriter David Walsh asked Pippa York if she’d be his travelling companion for the Tour de France. The deal was that he would sort out the logistics beforehand, the hotels, the transport details and she would do the day-to-day ... David Walsh and Pippa York – The Escape: The Tour, The Cyclist and Me

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Ray Mears – Outdoor Tracking Handbook

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Ray Mears has accumulated his tracking skills over 35 years of practice in the field, all over the world, and this book will be the first authoritative but accessible and practical manual. An essential guide for enthusiasts who want to discover the outdoors in a new way, and read the secret stories of animals and ... Ray Mears – Outdoor Tracking Handbook

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Adam Nicolson – Bird School

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Close to Adam Nicolson’s home in Sussex, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds – nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods. Adam Nicolson wanted ... Adam Nicolson – Bird School

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Sonia Purnell – Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Born into an impoverished aristocratic family, and raised on the family’s Minterne estate near Dorchester, Pamela Churchill Harriman became Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law and trusted confidante, and American ambassador to Paris under Bill Clinton, one of the most influential women in twentieth century politics, dismissed by many as the greatest courtesan of the age. Bestselling author ... Sonia Purnell – Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Monica Macias – Black Girl from Pyongyang

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung. Within months, her father was executed in a military coup led by her cousin (the still ... Monica Macias – Black Girl from Pyongyang

    £8.00 – £12.00
  • Daisy Goodwin – Diva

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    In this remarkable novel, best-selling author Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice. In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, ... Daisy Goodwin – Diva

    £10.00 – £14.00
  • Gordon Corera – The Spy in the Archive

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret archive in the world. The answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover over decades and so low key, that even after your escape, aided by MI6, ... Gordon Corera – The Spy in the Archive

    £10.00 – £14.00
  • Max Hastings – Sword

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    On 6 June 1944, when the Allied armies landed on D-Day, the Second World War had already lasted almost five years. Yet many of the British and American troops who invaded Normandy were virgin soldiers, never before committed to battle. They quit summer England to face, within hours, a storm of machine-gun and mortar fire. They witnessed ... Max Hastings – Sword

    £10.00 – £14.00
  • Dr Julie Smith – Open When

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Million-copy bestselling psychologist Dr Julie Smith is back with the book for when being human starts to get complicated. When you feel overwhelmed, pressure to perform, are grieving, are making big decisions, when you get it wrong as a parent, when you want to win the argument, when you're overthinking everything, when you want to ... Dr Julie Smith – Open When

    £10.00 – £14.00
  • Tim Spector – Ferment – The life changing power of microbes

    The Dorford Centre 2 Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, United Kingdom

    Tim Spector is on a mission to bring fermenting into our lives and kitchens. Drawing on the latest science and his own experiments, Ferment is an accessible introduction to the life-changing benefits of fermentation – for beginners and enthusiasts alike. Fermenting is one of the most ancient, nutritious and cheap techniques for preparing and preserving ... Tim Spector – Ferment – The life changing power of microbes

    £10.00 – £14.00