Taunton Literary Festival 2025
Brian Clegg – The Multiverse : When One Universe Isn’t Enough
Tue 25 Nov 2025, 7PM Venue: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER
NB PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED FROM FRI 14 NOVEMBER
The universe was supposed to be all there was – the whole of existence. For centuries the size of the universe and whether or not it is finite, fascinated scientists and philosophers. But however big the universe may be, there being only one gave astronomers and cosmologists a headache. Existence as we know it is contingent on so many constants in nature which, if altered only slightly, would make life impossible.
This seems so unlikely to happen by chance. What if, instead, there is in fact a vast range of different universes, with many variants of the universal contents, making ours just one of many that happens to be viable for life?
Tickets: £8
For further information/to book, click here or visit us: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742
Graham Fawcett – Auden in Europe NB UNFORTUNATELY THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THE NEW YEAR
Wed 26 Nov 2025 6.30PM Venue:Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER
Auden in Europe is the latest chapter of the poetry memoir I have been sharing with Brendon Books audiences over the last year or so. Auden’s nostalgia for Europe after the war he had spent in America is powerful and productive. How he longed back to the Old World past, present and future. I follow him from New York to Ischia and Ancient Greece and from there north to Austria. My own Tuscan hilltop village life, which he helped inspire the very idea of, so often chimes with his. About the House is one of his greatest collections, his sequence of poems for each of the rooms in his Kirchstetten cottage welcomingly ingenious. Graham Fawcett worked as a writer, deviser, interviewer and presenter with BBC Radio Three for twenty-five years and has also broadcast on Radio 4, the World Service, and the Italian Service. Tickets: £12.50
For further information/to book, click here or visit us: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742
Lionel Ward – Somerset Odyssey: Volume 3 of the Elliot Todd Mysteries
Thu 27 Nov 2025, 7:00PM Venue: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER
Following his earlier adventures in Rome, Elliot Todd finds himself in possession of an early edition of The Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, the seminal work of literature often identified as the origin of the Romantic Movement. He decides to donate the book to The Coleridge Society in Somerset by way of a walk along the Coleridge Way. It is a revelatory experience but things take an unexpected and menacing turn both for himself and his mother – who just happens to be in the area researching her dissertation in religious cults as a mature student.
This is the third volume of the Elliot Todd Mysteries following The Shakespeare Thief and Roman Holiday. Tickets: Free but please book in advance or reserve a copy of the book to include entry: £10.99
For further information/to book, click here or visit us: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742
An Evening of Music with Amy Jeffs, Gwen Burns & Natalie Brice
Sat 29 Nov 2025, 7:00PM Venue: Tacchi-Morris Arts Ctr, School Rd, Monkton Heathfield, Taunton
Amy and Natalie will perform some ballads based on Amy and Gwen’s book Old Songs: Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads. Old Songs fuses short stories, histories, lyrics and illustrations in an enthralling reimagining of traditional folk ballads. Sunday Times Bestselling historian Amy Jeffs and Illustrator Gwen Burns combine forces to create a rich compendium, singing of travel, mystery, magic and the essential urges of humanity. Featuring iterations of fairy tales and sinister descendants of Greek myths and bible stories, as well as a cast of lesser-known characters with names like Tam Lim, Child Wynd and Maisery, Old Songs threads a tapestry of Britain’s landscape, history and cultures.
Tickets: £15 NB TICKETS AVAILABLE DIRECT FROM THE VENUE ONLY www.tacchi-morris.com or 01823 41414
For further information/to book, click here or visit us: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742
Jo Middleton – Not Another Bloody Christmas
Tue 2 Dec 2025, 7:00PM Venue: Brendon books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER
Anna’s taking the family away for Christmas. Unlike last year, there will be no risk of her burning the turkey, far less nagging from her mother-in-law and – crucially – a zero per cent chance of finding a dead body in her larder. All she wants is to relax with a glass of wine in front of the fire.
But when another group of guests show up just before a snowstorm, her plans begin to go awry. And the appearance of a dead body threatens to bugger up Christmas once again… Can Anna get merry and root out the murderer? Or will this be another bloody Christmas nightmare? A hilarious whodunnit that will keep you guessing this Christmas, perfect for fans of Gill Sims, Ian Moore and Richard Osman. Jo’s first two books, Playgroups and Prosecco’s and happy Bloody Christmas will be available to purchase and be personally signed after the talk, along with her new book.
Tickets: £5 Book
For further information/to book, click here or visit us: Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742