Presented by Durham Book Festival
When secret truths are revealed about our families’ inner lives, how do writers portray them faithfully and respectfully in their work?
Louise Doughty and Nicola Wilding will discuss how they both used found letters and photos to understand family members dead and alive for their new memoirs: On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love and These Wild English. For Louise, her late parents’ letters revealed the surprising origins of their love affair, and chronicled working-class life in the 1950s. For Nicola, unearthing three generations of family photos helped her understand her politically opposed family members: her EDL-supporting mother and a brother imprisoned for armed robbery.
Louise Doughty is a novelist, short-story writer and playwright. Her novels include A Bird in Winter, Platform Seven, which was recently filmed for ITV, and the bestselling Apple Tree Yard, which has been adapted by the BBC.
Nicola Wilding grew up in the Eden Valley in Cumbria as part of a rural, working-class family. Now a writer and TV producer, she has spent over two decades making documentaries on subjects such as poverty, class, education and farming.
Chaired by Anna Disley, New Writing North
Tickets
£10 (£9 concession), £5 Livestream
