Little Gidding
Saturday 5 July and Sunday 6 July 2014
Saturday 5 July 2014
| 2.00pm | Eliot’s Quatrain poems read by Peter Cochran. |
| 2.40pm | Tarantula and The Possum: the friendship of John Hayward and T S Eliot John Smart is the author of Tarantula’s Web: John Hayward, T S Eliot and their circle the acclaimed biography of Hayward, Eliot’s friend and collaborator. |
| 3.40pm | Afternoon tea |
| 4.30pm | MY FAVOURITE ELIOT Festival-goers are invited to read a short piece or extract from the works of T S Eliot. (It would be helpful if you could notify us if you are interested in contributing to this. Please email eliotfestival@littlegidding.org.uk). |
| 5.00pm | Annual Little Gidding Lecture of the T S Eliot Society Eliot’s Psychology Sarah Cain Sarah Cain is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where she is Director of Studies in English. Her research interests include Anglo-American modernism. She will discuss Eliot’s graduate training at Harvard, his interest in various early 20th century forms of psychology, and their potential impacts on The Waste Land. |
| 6.00pm | Supper Supper in the garden at Ferrar House with its delightful views of Little Gidding Church and south over the Huntingdonshire countryside. |
| 7.30pm | Evening Recital Ruth Padel reads extracts from her new book of poetry Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth The centre-piece of the book, published on 3 July, is a series of reflections on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Ruth will read these poems, set between the movements of Haydn’s Seven Last Words, which is performed by the Hereward Ensemble.Ruth Padel is an award-winning British poet and writer, Teaching Fellow in Poetry at Kings College London and currently the first Writer in Residence at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. She was the main speaker at the first Eliot Festival in 2006. |
| 8.45pm | End of Saturday’s programme. |
Sunday 6 July 2014
On Sunday the Festival will be joined by members of the T S Eliot International Summer School taking place at the University of London.
| 11am | Welcome drinks |
| 11.30am | Vivienne
Clare McCaldin accompanied by Libby Burgess perform their acclaimed song-cycle telling the story of Eliot’s first wife Vivienne. Further information on Vivienne at Clare McCaldin’s website. |
| 12.30pm | Lunch |
| 1.15pm | ‘Little Gidding’
Peter Cochran and Jenny Sargent read ‘Little Gidding’. A moment always much anticipated at the Festival each year is the reading of ‘Little Gidding’ on the lawn in front of Little Gidding Church. |
| 2.00pm | Annual Little Gidding Lecture of the International Summer School Frances Dickey Eliot and Musical InventionFrances Dickey is member of the English faculty at the University of Missouri, and vice-chair of the (US) Eliot Society. She teaches courses on twentieth-century literature and American poetry, and specializes in modern poetry and its relations to other arts. She is currently co-editing Volume 3 of The Complete Prose of T S Eliot. |
| 3.00pm | Afternoon Tea |
| 3.45pm | Festival Choral Evensong in Little Gidding Church |
| 4.30pm | End of Festival programme |
Note: all timings are approximate and may be subject to change. The details of speakers and talks are confirmed, but may be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.
The T S Eliot Festival is organized by the Friends of Little Gidding and the T S Eliot Society, with financial support from Old Possum’s Practical Trust.