In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were drafted into a hurriedly assembled band that would play marching music to other inmates, forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, ... Anne Sebba – The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz

In the spring of 1990, we return to Champton, where the characters we’ve come to love are all aflutter as a glamorous Hollywood movie takes over Champton House as its set location. As the actors and extras hired from the village don their farthingales, gowns and crowns for a masque set in the 1600s, a murder interrupts filming on ... Rev Richard Coles – A Death on Location

An unflinching account of life at the heart of politics, and what it's like to have politics rip the heart out of your life. This is a story of high hopes and dirty tricks, broken friendships and divided loyalties, laughter and glamour. Recollections, as a great woman once said, may of course vary, but, Sarah ... Sarah Vine – How Not To Be a Political Wife

Join us in a special event of poetry, musicality and conversation to showcase the Caribbean culture that has helped to transform Britain. Featuring the acclaimed poet John Agard who has been a recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and whose poetry has been enjoyed by many generations of the public through the national ... John Agard and Philip Nanton – Caribbean Sensations

Independent sellers will be offering antiquarian & second hand books, modern firsts, signed editions, prints, maps and ephemera at the Dorchester book fair, in the stunning Victorian Hall of the Dorset Museum & Art Gallery. Coinciding with the final day of the Dorchester Literary Festival – this is a new addition to a week packed with author talks ... PBFA Dorchester Book Fair

In the first authoritative book to explain how AI works and what it means, the Research Director at the UK government's AI Safety Institute explains how advances in digital technology have given us a new wave of disarmingly human-like AI systems, set to upturn our economies, challenge democracies, and refashion society in unpredictable ways. These ... Christopher Summerfield – These Strange New Minds

Next year marks the centenary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh, one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. Best-selling biographer Gyles Brandreth knew the real Christopher Robin and his new book is both an intimate and revealing biography of A A Milne (to whom there was so much more than Pooh) and a fascinating exploration ... Gyles Brandreth – Somewhere a Boy and a Bear – A Biography of A A Milne and Winnie-the- Pooh

Across the globe, democracy is in crisis – in the UK it has been rocked by Brexit, the pandemic and successive attempts by governments to bypass legal norms. But how did this happen, and where might we go from here? In a provocative series of essays, former Supreme Court judge and Sunday Times-bestselling author, Jonathan ... Jonathan Sumption – The Challenges of Democracy

Darkness looms over sunny Sidmouth, when an unsolved murder comes to the attention of late-night radio talk show host Edward Temmis. Recently sacked from his beloved job after a devastating tragedy, Edward is cast adrift – until he meets Stevie, whose grandmother, a devoted listener, died in a suspicious fire last year. Well, nobody hurts ... Jeremy Vine – Murder on Line One

Please note that this event has been rescheduled for 12th November. Existing ticket holders can email contact@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com if they are unable to make this date and wish to request a refund. Inspired by Martin Clunes’ own adoption of a former guide dog, Meetings With Remarkable Animals celebrates the fascinating, moving and sometimes astonishing ways animals ... Martin Clunes – Meetings With Remarkable Animals