Derby Book Festival Event Listings

This year Derby Book Festival is delighted to present a hybrid programme of events including in-person, live streamed, and outdoors options for the whole family. Please see below to view the event listings in full and download a PDF of the programme.

27 May

John Preston: Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, Derby Theatre, @ 3pm Live stream or in-person tickets available

James Naughtie: On the Road: American Adventures from Nixon to Trump, Derby Theatre, @ 7.30pm Live stream or in-person tickets available

28 May

Walk with Dogs - Helen Mort: Never Leave the Dog Behind, Darley Park @ 2pm

Writing Real Women: Tracy Bloom & Laura Jane Williams, Déda @ 6pm

Jon McGregor: Lean Fall Stand, virtual event only @ 7.30pm

29 May

Free Family Day at the Park, Darley Park, tickets available from 29 April

Debut Authors: Jane Bettany: In Cold Blood/Helen Cooper: The Downstairs Neighbour, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College) @ 10am

John Kampfner: Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country, Derby Theatre, @ 11am live stream or in-person tickets available

Christian Wolmar: Cathedrals of Steam, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 12.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Lucy McRobert: 365 Days Wild, Darley Abbey Village Hall @ 1.45pm

Monique Roffey: The Mermaid of Black Conch, Derby Theatre, @ 2pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Alison Weir: Katheryn Howard, The Tainted Queen, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 3.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Christie Watson: The Courage to Care: A Call for Compassion, Derby Theatre, @ 5pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Shaun Bythell: Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 6.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Jasper Rees: Let's Do it: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, Derby Theatre, @ 8pm live stream or in-person tickets available

30 May

Roger Morgan-Grenville: Liquid Gold: Bees and the Pursuit of Midlife Honey/Shearwater, Darley Abbey Village Hall @ 10.30am

Debut Author: Rebecca Watson: little scratch, Darley Abbey Village Hall @ 12.30pm

Peter Ross: A Tomb With a View, Derby Cathedral @ 2pm

Brian Bilston: Alexa, what is there to know about love? Derby Theatre, @ 3.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Ben Aitken & Helen Moat: Travels with my Elders … and Youngers, Darley Abbey Village Hall @ 5pm

Val McDermid, virtual event only @ 7.30pm

31 May

Free Family Day at the Park, Arboretum Park, tickets available from 29 April

Andrew Lownie: The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 1pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Shrabani Basu: The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 3.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Alternative Crime: Russ Thomas & Alex Reeve, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 5.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Polly Samson: A Theatre for Dreamers with music from Dave Gilmour, virtual event only @ 7.30pm

1 June

Free Family Day at the Park, Markeaton Park, tickets available from 29 April

Duncan Campbell-Smith: Jet Man: The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, the Genius of the Jet Revolution, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 11am live stream or in-person tickets available

Patricia Fara: Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity, Derby Art Gallery & Museum – arrive early to visit the Joseph Wright of Derby collection @ 5pm

Creating Historical Fiction: Natasha Pulley & Lucy Jago, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 6.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: House of Music with Aminata and Konya (violin and piano), Derby Theatre, @ 7.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

2 June

Free Family Day at the Park, Sinfin Moor Park, tickets available from 29 April

Richard Bates & Jonathan Memel: Florence Nightingale at Home, Gallery 1, Derby Art Gallery & Museum @ 11am

Afternoon Tea: Francesca Wade: Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars, tickets available from 29 April, Museum of Making, @ 3pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Mary Lawson: A Town Called Solace, virtual event only @ 6pm

Book Festival Quiz, tickets available from 29 April @ 6.30pm

3 June

Free Family Day at the Park, Alvaston Park, tickets available from 29 April

Marketing Derby Bondholders' Event: Andrew Wallas: Business Alchemy, 9am @ Museum of Making, live stream tickets available

Festival Lunch with Anna Pasternak: The American Duchess: The Real Wallis Simpson, tickets available from 29 April, 12 noon @ Museum of Making, live stream or in-person tickets available

Cloudspotting with Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Day1), Darley Park @ 4pm

Matthew Parris: Fracture: Trauma, Success, and the Origins of Greatness, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 6.15pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Hollie McNish: Slug, Derby Theatre, Live stream or in-person tickets available @ 8pm

4 June

Cloudspotting with Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Day 2), Darley Park @ 10am

Morning Coffee: Helen Lewis: Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights, tickets available from 29 April, 10.30am @ Museum of Making, live stream or in-person tickets available

Afternoon Tea: Pen Vogler: Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain, tickets available from 29 April, 2.30pm @ Museum of Making, live stream or in-person tickets available

Gothic Panel with Stuart Turton, Catriona Ward & Sarah Ward, Derby Theatre, @ 6pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Claire Wilcox: Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes, 6.30pm @ Museum of Making, live stream or in-person tickets available

5 June

Jane Porter Collage Workshop : The Boy Who Loved Everyone, Déda, Studio 1 @ 10.30am

Debut Author: Abigail Dean - Girl A, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 10.30am live stream or in-person tickets available

Mark Cocker: Birdwatching Walk, Willington Gravel Pits @ 11am

Kate Summerscale: The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story, Carriage Shop Theatre (Derby College), @ 1pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Jane Porter Collage Workshop: Tiny Penguins and the New Baby, Déda, Studio 1 @ 2pm

Mark Cocker - A Claxton Diary: Further Field Notes from a Small Planet, Darley Abbey Village Hall @ 3pm

Jane Porter Collage Workshop: The Boy Who Loved Everyone, Déda, Studio 1 @ 4pm

Iain Dale: The Prime Ministers: 55 Leaders, 55 Authors, 300 Years of History, Derby Theatre, @ 4.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Jon Sopel: UnPresidented: Politics, Pandemics and the Race That Trumped All Others, Derby Theatre, @ 7.30pm live stream or in-person tickets available

Download a PDF of the programme here.