Make plans and book tickets for a live podcast, settle down in front of the new Bridget Jones film at The Little, discover Jane Austen in a different way and enjoy a novel written by a lawyer about a lawyer.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Bridget Jones finally has some luck in her life. She has a great job as a screenwriter, her family and a new boyfriend; however, the fact that he is over 20 years younger than her isn’t the only thing that is causing problems. Directed by Michael Morris and starring Renée Zellweger, Leo Woodall, Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Emma Thompson. 130 minutes. 13–23 February, various times. Little Theatre Cinema, Bath. picturehouses.com
Discover Jane Austen through objects
In association with Jane Austen’s house, Chawton Cottage, the book Jane Austen in 41 Objects by Kathryn Sutherland provides a fresh perspective on the writer’s life.
Jane’s family, as anxious to cover her tracks as to bring her before a growing public, handed down to biographers a life filled with gaps. So what can we discover from looking at the things that she cherished or cast aside, that she touched or that furnished her world? A teenage notebook; a locked tea caddy; the theatrical poster for a play she attended; the dining-room grate at Chawton Cottage where she lived; even the last manuscript page of her unfinished novel and a lock of hair kept by her sister, Cassandra, are featured. Also included are more recent objects contributing to Jane Austen’s rich cultural legacy.
Kathryn Sutherland is Senior Research Fellow, St Anne’s College, Oxford, and Patron at Jane Austen’s House. Published on 13 March, £25 (preorder now at bodleianshop.co.uk).
Power of the Pod
Curious Minds: a festival to ignite ideas has announced its programme for the forthcoming festival, which runs from 10–31 March, offering an eclectic mix of book talks, podcast shows, film screenings, workshops, live performances and walks to inform, challenge, entertain and connect.
Notable among the mix are a selection of live podcasts. These include The Therapy Works Podcast Live: Every Family Has a Story with author and psychotherapist Julia Samuel and her two psychotherapist daughters on 24 March. There is also The News Meeting Podcast – Live in Bath with Tortoise Media on 26 March, addressing the idea of who decides what leads the news. Another to note is Past Present Future Podcast Live – Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives with podcast host David Runciman and guest historian Robert Saunders on 29 March, on how one man’s political career could encompass so many twists and turns of fortune.
Bath Arts Collective; batharts.co.uk
Find Sanctuary
Why would you claim asylum in your own country? Alex Donovan is a young refugee lawyer in crisis. Helping desperate clients reach safety gives his job meaning. But he now finds himself demoted, signed off sick, and facing redeployment. Then there is Amy, the irresistible junior barrister who seems to be drifting away from him. With all to prove, Alex dreams up a plan to restore his honour and secure Amy’s affection. Sanctuary is the debut novel by Tom Gaisford, a barrister in the field of immigration and asylum law. Published in April, you can pre-order the book from Bath Publishing’s cintopress.co.uk, at £12.99 (plus P&P).