Agatha Christie is Torquay's most well-known resident and the best selling author of all time. Every year Torquay celebrates the life and work of its most famous resident with a Festival, supported by the Arts Council of England, and this year is no exception.
2022 marks the centenary of Agatha Christie’s Grand Tour of 1922 and there’s an unmistakably exotic flavour to this year’s programme.
Highlights include: launch of the newly-commissioned book of brand new Miss Marple stories by three leading contributors: Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse and Elly Griffiths; popular historian Lucy Worsley introducing her new biography of Agatha Christie; this year’s International Writer-in-Residence, crime novelist Ruby Gupta from Dehradun, India, in conversation with crime-writer Vaseem Khan; a screening of Director Sabine Scharnagl's moving and fascinating film Agatha Christie & the Middle East, including rare film footage shot by Christie herself, and a brand new Festival commission – Framed! -an interactive theatrical performance from Paddleboat Theatre for young families with children 4+.
New this year is a day of events staged in Exeter – in parallel with those taking place in Torquay – on 14th September, including world Christie expert, Dr John Curran, speaking at the University of Exeter which archives correspondence between Agatha and her literary agent, Hughes Massie & Co. Ltd. This marks and celebrates the Festival’s project partnership with Exeter UNESCO City of Literature.
And we’ve got a fabulously adventurous Festival Fringe including wild swimming, roller-skating, river cruising, golfing and literary bar-hopping alongside a Christie-inspired film fashion exhibition at Torre Abbey Museum, Dressed to Kill and a one night special at Torquay's Princess Theatre called Solve- Along-A-Murder She Wrote.
Tickets will go on sale on Friday, 27 May, via our online box office, Ticketsource. We will send out an update to this newsletter at that time to remind you.
If you are visiting from outside South Devon, then do visit the English Riviera’s comprehensive website here to find out how to make the most of your time with us here and where to stay.
Image (c) The Christie Archive Trust
The International Agatha Christie Festival is supported by Arts Council England National Lottery funding and The Colwinston Charitable Trust.
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