14. Lauren Working | Bridport Literary Festival | Sunday 08 November 1pm

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.

Sponsored by Tina Graham