This year the Bridport Open Book festival celebrates reading, writing and the 40th anniversary of the Bridport Prize through a range of events and activities.

Running from Wednesday, October 16 to October 20, organised through the arts centre, events include lunchtime flash fiction, Page to Screen films, readings, poetry and more.

The presentation of the prestigious Bridport Prize takes place on Saturday, October 19, and Dorset winners will be presenting a miscellany of their work the following day.

An evening of award-winning poetry with Bridport Prize poetry judge Wendy Cope is on Friday, October 18, at the arts centre.

One of our most popular poets, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the OBE in 2010.

A Lyrical Lunchtime is being held at the Beach & Barnicott on Wednesday, October 16 when Story Traders invites everyone to a feast of short stories and flash fiction served on the theme of ‘clocks and time’.

The Bridport Big Read this year is A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge. An extract from the novel won the Bridport Prize short story category in 2012.

Writer Katherine Locke will be leading a discussion of the novel for book groups and others at the arts centre on Wednesday, October 16, from 6pm to 7pm.

The From Page to Screen film is The Selfish Giant on October 17 at 1pm and 7.30pm at the arts centre.

The Selfish Giant is a contemporary fable about 13-year-old Arbor and his best friend Swifty. Excluded from school and outsiders in their own neighbourhood, the two boys meet Kitten, a local scrapdealer, and begin collecting scrap metal for him using a horse and cart.

However, when Arbor begins to emulate Kitten by becoming greedy and exploitative, tensions build, leading to a tragic event which transforms them all.

Five times BBC Radio 2 folk award nominee Jim Causley has recorded an album of the poems of his distant relative Charles Causley to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of this celebrated Cornish poet and with Lukas Drinkwater he will be at the Arts Centre on Thursday, October 17.

Bridport Prize flash fiction judge Dave Swann encourages writers to surprise themselves into writing poems from unusual angles, using inspiration from books, films and art at a poetry workshop in the arts centre cafe on October 18.

 

The Sing a Story Open Mic lunch is in the cafe on Sunday, October 20.

Bring a song to share that tells a story or just come and listen to Bridport’s best singer /songwriters.

Full details of all events at bridport-arts.com