A guest blog from our partner Church Times
Bloxham Festival: Friday 16 – Sunday 18 February 2018
A literary festival with a difference, the Church Times’ Festival of Faith and Literature brings together novelists, poets, theologians, broadcasters, charities and performers to celebrate the very best fiction and non-fiction with a faith perspective.
Tucked away in idyllic Bloxham, Oxfordshire, the festival is a chance to explore invigorating perspectives on the big questions. We’ve gathered an array of creative speakers and performers to contribute to our theme of ‘Building a New Jerusalem’. It’s our biggest festival yet, with over 30 events. From the local to the international and the economic to the artistic, join us for varied insights into where we are now, and what a New Jerusalem might mean.
The festival will include some inspiring authors – including Mark Oakley exploring the language of faith, Francis Spufford on ‘Telling Stories, True and Otherwise’, award-winning novelist Francesca Kay, and Greenbelt favourites Rachel Mann, Andrew Rumsey and Katherine Welby-Roberts, to mention a few. We’ll start our Saturday morning with some ‘Moral Tales from the New Jerusalem’, as Cole Moreton talks to author James Runcie about the hugely popular ‘Grantchester’ series.
Saturday will also prove a treat for poetry lovers, with Ian Adams joining us to read from ‘Breathing Deep’, Malcolm Guite exploring ideas of longing and vision in Blake’s Jerusalem and beyond, and Theatre 17 beginning the evening with a new solo-drama performance interweaving Blake’s poems and autobiographical writings (‘Fearful Symmetry’).
We’ll ask some challenging questions in the non-fiction elements of the programme too. Ruth Valerio (of Tearfund) will unpack how to live a joyful, spiritual life in a consumer-obsessed society, while Eve Poole wants to convert capitalism one transaction at a time – starting with your latest bank statement. Writer Karl Sabbagh and academic Ghada Karmi join us to discuss life in Palestine, and Kids4Peace will bring their stories as Jerusalem’s new generation of Christian, Jewish and Muslim youth coming together for peace.
So, if you find yourself missing Greenbelt’s literature and ideas line-up in chilly February, perhaps you’d like to join us. There’s a wide choice of talks and performances on offer. Take a closer look at the whole programme and book tickets at www.bloxhamfaithandliterature.co.uk. Tickets are half price for students, and if you book 6 talks/performances you’ll only pay for 5.
Plus – especially for Greenbelters – save an extra 15% on all ticket prices when you book before the end of December. Just enter discount code GREENBELT at the checkout.
www.bloxhamfaithandliterature.co.uk
@BloxhamFestival
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