Ely Events and Reading Groups
In this atmospheric medieval city, just over an hour from London by train, author events range from reading groups and intimate events in the bookshop to the drama of performances under the world-renowned Octagon of Ely Cathedral. We hold events all year round, but in the autumn there is a special focus on the Ely Literary Festival.
Sarah Perry
Monday 6th October, 7pm
Now I understand there are no ordinary lives - that every death is the end of a single event in time's history: an event so improbable …
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Ben Elton with Dame Emma Thompson
Tuesday 7th October, 7.30pm
What Have I Done? An Evening with Ben Elton and Dame Emma Thompson.Join us for an evening with Ben Elton, who will be interviewed by Dame …
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Olly Smith - Wine Tasting
Thursday 9th October, 7pm
All for wine and wine for all!You don’t need to be rich or have expert knowledge – you just need to feel confident in choosing wines …
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Graham Robb
Friday 10th October, 7pm
Taking the reader on a time-travelling adventure around the 'spindly, sea-wracked islands' we call home, The Discovery of Britain is history that's panoramic and intimate, poignant …
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Midge Gillies
Monday 13th October, 7pm
This is the astounding story of the six female aviators who battled to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by plane.In the early …
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Reading Group - All Fours
Tuesday 14th October, 7.30pm
A semi-famous artist turns forty-five and gives herself a gift - a cross-country road trip from LA to New York, without her husband and child. But …
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Reading Group - Money
Tuesday 14th October, 7.30pm
Shuttling restlessly across the Atlantic, dissolute film producer John Self's chaotic progress is fuelled by his bottomless appetite for excess, little expecting that his wild life …
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Sabrina Ghayour
Wednesday 15th October, 7pm
We are delighted to announce an evening with Sabrina Ghayour! With her brand new collection of inspiring recipes from the bestselling chef - each carefully designed …
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Ann Cleeves
Friday 17th October, 3pm
When a violent storm descends upon Orkney, the body of Archie Stout is left in its wake. An unusual murder weapon, a Neolithic stone bearing ancient …
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Gyles Brandreth
Tuesday 21st October, 7.30pm
We are so pleased to welcome back Gyles Brandreth this Autumn Literary Festival, this time hosting in Ely Cathedral. This is the story of a man, …
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Kassia St Clair
Wednesday 22nd October, 7pm
Published to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of Liberty, this book celebrates the extraordinary range of innovative fabric designs that have been at the …
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Peter James
Thursday 23rd October, 7pm
Roy Grace never dreamed a murder investigation would take him deep into Buckingham Palace . . .Her Majesty, Queen Camilla, is aboard the Royal Train heading …
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Queer Reading Group - Orlando
Tuesday 28th October, 7pm
Orlando tells the tale of an extraordinary individual who lives through centuries of English history, first as a man, then as a woman; of his/her encounters …
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Michelle Paver
Wednesday 29th October, 7pm
The virgin rainforest seems a paradise to Englishman Simon Corbett. A last chance to salvage his career. A final refuge from a terrible secret.But the jungle …
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Shirley Ballas
Thursday 30th October, 7pm
Strictly Come Dancing's Head Judge, Shirley Ballas, a sparkling toolkit for living your best life, and new stories from Shirley's life on and off the dance …
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Janina Ramirez
Tuesday 4th November, 7pm
Janina joins us for Legenda, a brilliant reappraisal of the medieval women whose lives have been exploited over centuries for political, nation-building ends.In LEGENDA, Ramirez peels …
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Dinner with Jose Pizarro
Friday 7th November, 7pm
Join us for a delicious dinner with José Pizarro!In The Spanish Pantry, award-winning chef, author and restaurateur, José Pizarro invites you into his home kitchen.With a …
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Andrew Graham Dixon
Monday 10th November, 7pm
"This book is going to revolutionize the way we understand Vermeer. I read it slowly, feeling 'like some watcher of the skies when a new planet …
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Reading Group - Hawksmoor
Tuesday 11th November, 7.30pm
The lives and paths of an Eighteenth Century architect and a Twentieth Century detective loop round each other as, over two hundred years apart, they cross …
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Andy Wilman
Wednesday 12th November, 7pm
Join us for the rollicking, rowdy and hilarious memoir of twenty years of magic and mayhem through Top Gear and The Grand Tour, from the elusive …
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Tim Minshall
Friday 14th November, 3pm
We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products. How often …
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Tony Robinson
Monday 17th November, 7pm
Sir Tony Robinson - actor, presenter, historical expert and star of Blackadder and Time Team - will bring to us his adult fiction debut with this …
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Dan Cruickshank
Tuesday 18th November, 7pm
This is the story of the superbly elegant early eighteenth-century Pallant House in Chichester. It's the story of 19 Princelet Street in Spitafields, built for a …
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David Woodman
Monday 24th November, 7pm
From one of today's leading historians of the early medieval period, an enthralling chronicle of AEthelstan, England's founder king whose achievements of 927 rival the Norman …
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Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker
Thursday 27th November, 7pm
From two of the UK's best-known book makers, Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker, comes a stunning picture book to ignite wonder in readers everywhere.In the …
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