Bridport Literary Festival | Sunday 08 November

We’re told that a tsunami of change is sweeping the economy as AI replaces humans in the workplace

But when Sarah O’Connor ventured into the front line of this new industrial revolution, she found that employees weren’t generally losing their jobs to machines, they were losing their humanity. Work was becoming lonelier, less creative and highly controlled. We were at risk of turning ourselves into robots.

Drawing on stories from 19th century English cotton mills to 21st-century Swedish mines, the prize-winning Financial Times journalist tackles one of our age’s most important questions: how can we shape technology before it shapes us? She talks to Boris Starling.

Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins never imagined reporting on a war. In autumn 2022, she travelled to a book festival in Ukraine to discover how artists were reflecting the conflict in their work. It would change her life.

During a war that threatens the very existence of Ukrainian culture, art has become literally a matter of life and death. Based on three years of reporting, Ukrainian Lessons is an urgent and unforgettable book about what artists are prepared to risk – and why culture is worth fighting for. In conversation with the writer Philip Ardagh.

“The most beautifully written, moving book I can ever remember readingˮ, Philippa Perry.

Join TV antiques expert and author James Braxton for a walking tour around Bridport’s celebrated vintage market and antiques shops.

Best known for BBC flagship shows like Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, Braxton is a seasoned auctioneer and author of antiquarian mystery fiction, including Barty: A Tale of a Stolen Bronze.

With over forty years of experience in the antiques trade, Braxton brings a practised eye for provenance, history, and craftsmanship to all he finds. Will he spot a genuine bargain along the way, or merely uncover the fascinating histories hidden behind everyday objects?

1pm at Bridport Arts Centre, 9 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NR

Tickets: £14.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Bridport Arts Centre

Britain has long prided itself on fairness, but is that reputation still deserved? Robert Barrington believes not: the UK is losing the battle against grift.

In Corrupted Kingdom, the world-leading corruption expert makes the case that complacency has undermined our national institutions, from parliament and the NHS to the monarchy and the police. Barrington traces this decline back to the end of empire and identifies steps we might take to restore trust. We need to act now, he argues, to stop the rot. Professor Barrington is joined by the broadcaster Gavin Esler, author of Britain Is Better Than This.

Event 14 | Lauren Working | A Golden World

1pm at The Bull Hotel, 34 East Street, Bridport DT6 3LF

Tickets: £12.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online via our Ticket Page

From rumours of Amazonian gold to silver-veined mountains, dreams of enormous wealth fuelled Tudor imperial fantasies. But how did the peoples of the Americas really influence English art, fashion and literature – and at what cost?

In A Golden World, historian Lauren Working shows how objects from across the Atlantic – such as tobacco leaves strewn in playhouses and courtly pearls – became central to 16th-century culture.

Uncovering stories of Raleigh’s privateers and the indigenous craftsmanship that fed Renaissance splendour, Working presents a glittering new history of Tudor ambition. She talks to historian Eleanor Barraclough.