Penny's Picks

The Bath Literature Festival has been the rising star of Bath Festivals for the last few years; it might just be simply The Star now. The number of events has increased over the years — it is up to 177 now!

This year Artistic Director James Runcie, novelist, documentary film-maker, TV producer, theatre director and journalist, has put together another impressive list of events which includes such as Tony Parsons, William Boyd, Nadine Gortimer, A.N. Wilson, Claire Tomalin, Sandy Toksvig, Ian Kershaw, Stella Rimington, and so many more, even Mariella Frostrup. Events are spread round the area, there are workshops, films, music (Clara Sanabras, pictured), philosophical discussions, writers' surgeries... and just so much more.

Many events are already sold out, many more will soon be, so get to it!

The voluminous website for the Bath Literature Festival is here.

The website for booking tickets is here.

A new festival takes place in this City of Festivals: The Bath Bachfest. This ­ hopefully – is just the beginning and it is kicking off with a modest start: just three concerts over the weekend of February 24 and 25. That seems like a sensible idea, though how can one go wrong with Bach? He is, after all, the foundation of Western music and music aficionados of every stripe, classical to folk to jazz, should be able to relate.

The three concerts: on Friday evening Baroque violinist Alina Ibragimova, with the Academy of Ancient Music, traces the development of the concerto. Saturday morning, quartet Florilegium rearranges two Bach organ Trio Sonatas and two other Bach pieces sure to please. Saturday evening in Bath Abbey, the Retrospect Ensemble, a new early music group conducted by Matthew Halls, takes us through several pieces Bach composed for worship in the Lutheran church.

It's a very promising start for a festival we are sure to see return and grow.