The full programme for this year’s Small Wonder festival was announced yesterday with a star-studded line-up featuring musician, producer and feminist icon Peaches, legendary food writer Claudia Roden, and artist and comic Jim Moir, better known as his alter ego Vic Reeves.
Also among the festival highlights is the award-winning author Natasha Brown, acclaimed writer, journalist and tv personality, Will Self and comedian, writer and journalist, Rich Hall.
Small Wonder returns this autumn, 13-16 October, with 20 live events and workshops across four days inside the Hay Barn at Charleston. Bringing together leading and emerging voices at the cutting edge of art and literature, Small Wonder is the UK’s only festival dedicated to short-form writing.
From short stories and essays to poetry and lyrics, the shortest forms of literature are some of the most immediate, powerful and impactful. Celebrate the short form with a long weekend of thought-provoking performances, timely discussions and workshops.
Join musician and feminist performance artist Peaches in conversation as she discusses the creative process behind her songwriting and the importance of her boundary-pushing lyrics. Across five critically acclaimed studio albums, Peaches’ bold and sexually progressive lyrics have tackled gender politics, profanity and sexual identity.
Throughout history, food has proven to be a delicious tool for understanding different cultures and bringing people together. Claudia Roden, legendary food writer and author of many beloved Middle Eastern cookbooks, delves into the storytelling power of recipes, a form of writing which brings to life tales of migration, community and belonging.
Walking and writing have always gone together, from the poets walking out a rhythm to the novelists who put their characters on a path. Among those reflecting on the relationship between walking and writing is one of the most unusual and distinctive writers, acclaimed novelist and journalist Will Self, who has recently contributed to a new collection of essays, Where My Feet Fall.
Natasha Brown, one of British literature’s most exciting new voices discusses the line between fiction and lived experience and her game-changing, award-winning debut novel, Assembly. Praised for its daring urgency and unique voice, in just 100 pages Assembly explores themes of race, class, sexism and capitalism.
Although he is best known as Vic Reeves, his comedy alter ego, Jim Moir originally set out to be an artist. Art remains his first love. In an animated discussion, Moir reflects on his latest publication Birds: Paintings of 100 British Birds, which showcases the simplicity and sincerity of his artwork as well as his famous sense of humour.
Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston says:
‘Small Wonder is a showcase for the best and most innovative short fiction, poetry, letters, song, essays and more, from the top practitioners in the field. Featuring a mix of UK and international artists and writers, Small Wonder cuts through the cacophony of modern life and shows the beauty and power of concision.’
Nathaniel Hepburn, Director/CEO at Charleston says:
‘Small Wonder returns refreshed and revived this year as a space for interdisciplinary conversations across different art forms and different subjects all celebrating concision, brevity and distillation of words and ideas. The short form is revealed in this programme as one of the most vibrant and energising forms of literary and artistic expression. We are delighted that in our fourth and final festival of 2022, Charleston will again be bringing together a diverse range of speakers including artists, poets, writers, comics and musicians.’
Booking information
Tickets £8-£35
Tickets are now on sale and available to book via the Charleston website:
charleston.org.uk/festival
As part of a new Under 30 scheme, younger adult audiences can now access £10 tickets. charleston.org.uk/support/
– Ends –
Notes to Editors
Small Wonder
13-16 October
Full programme:
Thursday 13 October
11am
Arvon Workshop: Writing with
a Sense of Place
Will Harris, introduced by Mary Morris
1pm
Recipe for Life
Claudia Roden and Gurdeep Loyal
3pm
Marple
Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley and Jean Kwok
5pm
Folk Reimagined
Nicholas Jubber, Elizabeth Garner and Zoe Gilbert with David Bramwell
7pm
Haywire
Craig Brown and Miranda Sawyer
Friday 14 October
11am
Arvon Workshop: Say More with Less
Huma Qureshi, introduced by
Mary Morris
1pm
Letters from Ukraine
Lindsey Hilsum and Daniel Trilling with
Sigrid Rausing
3pm
Chips Channon’s Diaries: Politics,
Sex and Scandal
Simon Heffer and Rachel Cooke
5pm
When Words Become Art
Nathan Coley and James Lavelle
7pm
Peaches: In Conversation
Peaches
Saturday 16 October
9.30am & 11am
I Want My Hat Back
Little Angel Theatre production with Ian Nicholson and Sam Wilde
2pm
More Fiya
Dean Atta, Belinda Zhawi and Keith Jarrett
4pm
Where My Feet Fall
Will Self, Duncan Minshull and Irenosen Okojie
6pm
Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping
Neil Bartlett and Jess Chandler with Declan Wiffen
8pm
Jim Moir: In Conversation
Jim Moir and John Mitchison
Sunday 17 October
9.30am & 11am
I Want My Hat Back
Little Angel Theatre production with Ian Nicholson and Sam Wilde
11am
Walking and Writing
Duncan Minshull
2pm
Assembled Pieces of Self
Natasha Brown and Paul Mendez
4pm
Love Lucian: The Love Letters of Lucian Freud
Martin Gayford and Esther Freud with Michael Bird
6pm
Nailing It
Rich Hall and Suzi Feay
Charleston
Firle, near Lewes
East Sussex
BN8 6LL
@CharlestonTrust
