In the run-up to the publication of my new Marple book in late summer (sorry for the publication delay, it’s due to pictures taking time and bookseller preferences!), I will be speaking at a few events in June. I’ll give a talk at Bodies from the Library at the British Library on 1 June 2024, and be in conversation at both Belfast Book Festival (11 June 2024) and Felixstowe Book Festival (29 June 2024). More to come!
The (almost) full details for the International Agatha Christie Festival 2024 have now been announced, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be speaking about the search for the “definitive” Miss Marple in the evening of 13 September at 7pm. I’ll be discussing Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple and other depictions (including Helen Hayes) sharing new information and some nice clips and illustrations. This is as well as the Swinging Christies event with Gray Robert Brown on the Wednesday. I’m also taking part in the All About Agatha panel on the Thursday evening (debating the best screen adaptation).
There is more to be announced, and I may pop up at another event… It’s sure to be a great week, so do join us in Torquay! Details here.
This year has probably been the busiest yet for me, such is the continuing popularity of Agatha Christie.
In September I had a wonderful time speaking at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay. I arrived straight from the Agatha Christie Conference at the University of Exeter, where I was one of the keynotes, and at the end of the week it was great to give the after dinner speech at Greenway House, Christie’s holiday home, on her birthday.
Most recently I was thrilled to be invited to India to speak at the Dehradun Literature Festival. My wonderful hosts ensured that this was a great event. I particularly enjoyed running a workshop for local children, where we used some of Christie’s techniques to create their own stories.
My next event is the Agatha Christie Festival Internacional in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. It’s always a brilliant event and I can’t wait to talk about Miss Marple. There is much more to come next year in support of my forthcoming book Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, which you can preorder at Amazon UK now, if you’re keen… There is also The Swinging Christies, a new podcast project that I’m doing with the writer Gray Robert Brown. More on that soon!
All in all, it’s an exciting time to be researching Agatha Christie!
I’m really pleased to say that I’ll be making an appearance at this year’s Greenway Literary Festival. I’ll be speaking with Guy Slater, who produced the brilliant Miss Marple series on the BBC starring the peerless Joan Hickson. You can find more information and book a ticket here. We’ll be speaking in the evening of Friday 12 June, and there are plenty of other events that sound great – plus it’s good to have any excuse to visit Agatha Christie’s gorgeous Devon home, now owned by the National Trust.
I recently took part in an Agatha Christie themed week over at In Media Res, a scholarly blog that specialises in bite-sized articles that ‘curate’ something – perhaps a clip, or a film poster. I decided to curate the trailer for the Margaret Rutherford film Murder She Said – surprisingly difficult to do when you only have about 350 words to play with!
You can find the article here. Of course, you can find out even more about the Margaret Rutherford films in my book, Agatha Christie on Screen, which you can order here or from your retailer of choice.
Dr Mark Aldridge 