Retracing Graham Greene’s travels in Africa.
TIM BUTCHER in conversation with JIMMY BURNS

TIM BUTCHER is the best selling author of Blood River which was described by Alexander McCall Smith as One of the most exciting books to emerge from Africa in recent years.
In his latest book, Chasing the Devil, Tim describes an epic 350 mile journey he completed on foot through war-ravaged Liberia following a route blazed in 1935 by a young Graham Greene, then a penniless author anxious to prove himself as a travel-writer. Helped by stunning photographs and video, Tim will give a unique ground-level view from a country widely regarded as too dangerous for regular travel and at the same time offer an insight into the mysterious, early career of Greene.

JIMMY BURNS has had a long and distinguished career as a reporter for the Financial Times as well as being the author of best selling books. He was the only full-time British foreign correspondent in Argentina during the Falklands War and his book on that conflict, The Land that Lost its Heroes, was described by Graham Greene as required reading on Argentina. Jimmy Burns is passionate about football and his book on Maradona, Hand of God, was an international best-seller. His latest book, Papa Spy, about his father Tom Burns is described as ... a thrilling book, written with passion and precision..

In the steps of Graham Greene – a great start for Mere’s 2010 festival.

COMMUNITY LUNCH with STORYTELLER

As a young newspaperman in India, in the 1880s, Rudyard Kipling first met the then General, Sir Frederick Roberts, victor and hero of the 2nd. Afghan War. The two came together again in the South African War 1899 – 1902. They shared a pride in the British Empire and in their country’s historic traditions. They feared that the British century was passing if they did not rouse their countrymen from complacent lethargy as war with Germany approached. Kipling’s admiration for Roberts is shown in two poems of praise although his earlier poems were not so flattering.

Wildlife ranger COLIN ELFORD shares his love and experience of woodland and its wildlife in his fascinating book published by Hamish Hamilton. A Year in the Woods is based on the daily journal he keeps of his life working for the Forestry Commission in Wiltshire and Dorset. He describes encounters with animals and the forest life that most people will never see ... the things that make the book such a fascinating read Mathew Manning, Blackmore Vale Magazine
Colin has spent his working life in the woods and his first book was Practical Woodland Stalking. Colin appeared at the Hay Literary Festival earlier this year and at Mere will be in discussion with Blackmore Vale Magazine reporter Mathew Manning.

MATHEW MANNING works as a journalist, photographer and author specializing in country affairs, food and farming. He will be well known to readers of the Blackmore Vale Magazine but also contributes to the national shooting press.
His first book, with poet Patti Flynn, was Fractured Horizons and his latest, Hunting with Air Rifles – A Complete Guide, has just been published by Northumbria Press.

A must for all wildlife and countryside enthusiasts.

Joe Hashman, aka DIRTY NAILS, has been writing a weekly gardening column for the Blackmore Vale Magazine since 2004 and also contributes to newspapers across England and Wales. Growing your own produce is back in fashion, allotments are back in demand and Dirty Nails is the gardener so many rely on for advice.
A figure who deserves to be widely read and universally recognized as a gardener ‘par excellence’. Connie Cross.
His first book, How to Grow Your Own Food, was widely acclaimed.
A delightful read. A ‘must’ for ANY gardener’. George Glaudius.
It has been followed by A Vegetable Gardener’s Year and On the Plot with Dirty Nails which combine his passion for good food, gardening and the joy of being outdoors.

www.dirtynails.co.uk

An informal afternoon of readings – poetry and prose – in a nostalgic celebration of the country dweller and a rural way of life which has almost disappeared. Feel free to bring along memorabilia, tools or photographs which show Mere or other rural communities of yesteryear.

• Come and listen
• Come with a piece to read
• Come with a piece to be read
• Come and read your own work

Mere Film Shows & Wiltshire Moviola present Invictus.

His people needed a leader. He gave them a champion.

Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Directed by Clint Eastwood, this uplifting film stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

Two distinguished writers who have reported on Afghanistan discuss the state of that war-torn country and our involvement in the conflict. The ticket price for this important event reflects the fact that a separate collection will be taken for HELP FOR HEROES.

JILL McGIVERING is a senior BBC broadcaster, specialising in Asia. She’s covered foreign news for the past 18 years for all the BBC’s main radio and television news outlets. Her posts as a BBC correspondent include Hongkong, South Asia and the US State Department. Since being based in London, she’s travelled on assignment worldwide but most often to Asia where she covers conflicts and pursues investigative journalism. Her first novel, The Last Kestrel (Harper Collins) is set in Afghanistan. It draws on many reporting trips to Afghanistan and two embeds with British forces in Helmand Province.
..a deeply compassionate and thoughtful novel.. Fergal Keane

STEPHEN GREY is an independent London based writer who contributes regularly to major newspapers and to radio and TV including reports for Channel 4 Dispatches, BBC Newsnight and BBC File on Four. He covers national security in its many forms and more recently has concentrated on the conflict in Afghanistan. In 2007, while reporting on Afghanistan for the Sunday Times, he was with frontline troops when they came under fire – ambushed by the Taliban. His book, Operation Snake Bite, is the story of British and American involvement in Helmand and is a tale of true heroes.
One of the most courageous and important pieces of reporting on the Afghan campaign. General Sir Richard Dannatt

NIKKI BENNETT has had several solo spots in UK poetry festivals and has also read in the USA and Europe. She is a Stanza Representative for The Poetry Society and involved with the uni-verse poetry group in Bath.
Her work has appeared in various magazines and her collection Love Shines Beyond Grief was nominated for the Ted Hughes Award for New Poetry 2010. Nikki’s poetry particularly highlights women’s issues as another collection, The Places We’re Touched, will testify and her Pink Nightie Poems will strike a chord with those who have been in hospital.
www.nikkibennnettpoems.com

JOHN PAGE spent over twenty-one years in energy marketing, including a spell on the Energy Directorate of the EEC, before training for the ministry of the Church of Scotland. He was ordained in 1988 and has worked in Iberia and Scotland. He has been married to Janie for over fifty years and perhaps he’ll tell you the romantic tale of their engagement. They are now retired and living in Mere. John is also a member of The Poetry Society and not surprisingly for one who has travelled so widely, his collection of poetry and prose is called Journeys and Encounters; he has been invited to read at many events including Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe

The workshop will cover getting an agent, the editing process, the importance of the right book jacket and how advances and royalties work. It will also cover developing feature ideas for newspapers and magazines, approaching editors and negotiating fees.

Maria is the author of The Girls' Car Handbook and The Girls' Guide to Losing your L Plates published by Simon and Schuster. She also writes for Cosmopolitan, The Sunday Express, and The Independent and lectures on freelance journalism at Bristol and Oxford Brookes Universities.

PAULINE FISK is an award winning children’s author. She won the Smarties Prize for her first novel Midnight Blue in 1990 and has gone on to write nine more including the Children of Plynlimon sequence of Sabrina Fludde, The Red Judge and Mad Dog Moonlight.
Her latest novel is In the Trees published this year.

Vera Hughes plays the lady of the house and David Weller is Aubrey, a family friend of long standing. The stage is set for a glimpse behind the doors of the ‘big house’ and the life of the gentry and others as noted by one of Wiltshire’s most entertaining and observant commentators interspersed with interesting insights into his own life.
Witty and thought provoking, A most entertaining evening, Enchanting

Vera Hughes BA FRSA trained at LCTS and has worked in the theatre for many years as both director and actor.

David Weller, actor, international speaker and presenter has worked in theatre, film and TV.

Unlock your creativity with this inspiring workshop which offers fun, practical techniques to help you improve your writing skills, including developing characters and plots.

Maria has had short stories published in women's magazines, has taught creative writing for over ten years and was a judge for the W.H Smith Thumping Good Read Award.

Although life as a farm labourer was hard in the early 1900s, it was not without its pleasures and celebrations. Join Tinkers Bag as they journey through a year in the life of a labouring man born To plough and sow, and reap and mow, and be a Farmer’s Boy.
The show starts as the hard work of the harvest is complete and moves through the seasons with music and song.
Hear of old customs like the Mumming Play, songs of the traditional craft of hedging and ditching and much more of rural yesteryear.
As performed at the Chippenham Folk Festival 2010

TINKERS BAG has played and sung together since 1997. The group has written six full length shows which have been performed to much acclaim all over Wiltshire and beyond.

Announcing the winners of WRITE IN THE WEEK
has your story won a prize?

AND MEET THE AUTHORS – IN THE MAIN HALL

FOR OUR FIRST SCOOP we have MARK MACAULEY reading from his recently published novel which has been the sensation of this summer’s Irish festivals. The House of Slamming Doors sold out on just one reading in Bantry Book Shop and cleared the shelves in another. Semi-autobiographical, it is a dark, comedic tale of a boy marooned between warring parents in a big house on the edge of the Wicklow mountains.
The funniest, most beguiling, cruelly dysfunctional family ever. John Boorman
Weird, wonderful and highly recommended. Tom Widger, Tribune Arts

Mere is the first English festival that Mark Macauley is attending so come along, meet the author and be among the first to purchase a signed copy of The House of Slamming Doors (Published by Lilliput Press).

AND IN THE BOOK FAIR ANOTHER FIRST FOR MERE –

Meet CLAIRE BARKER whose children’s novel Magical Mail is published by Boxer Books only days ahead of the festival. It’s a genuinely funny and heart-warming story (even for the grown-ups) and a signed copy would make a magical Christmas present or stocking filler for the young readers in your family. Why not bring them along to meet the author?
Magical Mail – One girl - Ten letters - A whole lot of magic.

PLUS THE FESTIVAL’S OWN BARGAIN BOOK STALL.
BOOKS MAKE GREAT PRESENTS. BUY NOW FOR CHRISTMAS