Banbury Literary Live 2019

About Banbury Literary Live 2019

Banbury Literary Live 2019 is Banbury’s community and family literary event. It returns for the sixth year on 15th September in its new home at The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury town centre.

12:30 pm to 5:30 pm – Main Event

This one-day event boasts a fantastic line up of top authors, speakers, performers and workshops. The whole day’s events are about bringing the community together and igniting a passion for literature. The emphasis is very much on the word ‘live’: performance poets; theatrical performances; cookery demonstrations; science showcase; animators and illustrators; music and dance; as well as authors bringing their books to life through presentations, creative writing workshops or over afternoon tea.

This event is even more accessible to the whole community as it is now located at The Mill Arts Centre in the heart of Banbury. The main event is now also FREE. This event will still have something for everyone. The main (free) event will run from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm. And in addition to the main event, there will also be a special ticketed show for adults by Jackie Hagan at 7.00pm (see details below). There will be dance showcases, music and an arts/crafts fayre along with author sessions so please arrive and leave at a time to suit yourself throughout the day. Waterstones bookstall will sell the author’s books and as well as the bar, there will be a range of delicious foods for sale.

7.30 pm – Jackie Hagan Show

This is Not a Safe Space is a new solo show from award-winning poet, playwright, and stand-up comedian Jackie Hagan which explores the experience of living at the margin and the complicated weirdness of being human. The show combines stand-up comedy and spoken word and was created from over 80 interviews with people on benefits living in the UK. These are not sob stories – they are well-rounded lives full of the spiky humour and the complicated weirdness of being human. Jackie weaves these narratives together with poetry and anecdotes, celebrating the weird, the wonky, the unruly, and the resilient. Recordings of these interviews are played throughout the show, which also features humorous and heart-breaking anecdotes from Jackie’s own life growing up working class in the North of England and living as a disabled person.

About Jackie Hagan
Jackie Hagan is a working-class queer disabled poet, performer and theatre-maker and a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow. Her work focuses on celebrating the experiences of people left out of the mainstream. Her solo show Some People Have Too Many Legs won the 2015 Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show and toured nationally to venues including Hull Truck and Bristol Old Vic. Her debut play Cosmic Scallies was commissioned by Graeae and ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in summer 2017.

Age guidance: 14+

Content warnings: Strong language, references to sex, references to drug use, references to sex work

Book tickets

The main Banbury Literary Live 2019 event is FREE for everyone; just turn up on the day. For the SPECIAL EVENTS, tickets are available via The Mill Arts Centre Box Office.