Penarth Pier Pavilion

• 2023
• USA
• 1h 52min
• 15

• Directed by: Ben Affleck
• Cast: Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck

The creation story of the iconic shoes: the Air Jordans.

• 75%
• 73%

• more info

• 2023
• US
• 1h 45min
• PG

• Directed by: Kelly Fremon Craig
• Cast: Rachel McAdams, Abby Ryder Fortson, Elle Graham, Benny Safdie, Kathy Bates

Coming of age comedy drama based on the much-loved book by Judy Blume. When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.

Starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Abby Ryder Fortson.

• 78%
• 84%

• more info

• 1963
• UK
• 1h 38min
• 12

• Directed by: John Schlesinger
• Written by: Keith Waterhouse (novel and play), Willis Hall (play)
• Cast: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne

Vintage northern kitchen sink drama based on Keith Waterhouse's popular book. An undertaker's clerk slips in and out of a Walter Mitty-style fantasy world to escape the drudgery of life in a northern town. The spirit of the swinging 60s is captured in Christie, while Courtenay brings a warmth and sensitivity to the tale.

• 73%
• 82%
• 100%

• more info

‘Alice was thinking about her own next world and her own castle, which was not in Kingsbury or in Kilburn. It was far away from here, out in the fields near the edge of Benin City, a little house, long in the dreaming, which her relatives had been building for her for when it was time to go home to Nigeria. One day it would be time to go home.’

We're delighted to welcome acclaimed novelist Diana Evans to Penarth to talk about her new book,_ A House for Alice. Set in the harrowing aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, this powerful and moving novel from the author of _Ordinary People follows the titular protagonist and her three daughters, as they search for a place Alice would be happy to call her last home.

About A House for Alice:

_After fifty years in London, Alice wants to live out her days in the land of her birth. Her three children are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father's death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray.

Meanwhile youngest daughter Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael in return, even within the sturdy walls of his marriage to the sparkling Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past. As Alice's final decision draws closer, all that is hidden between Melissa and her sisters, Michael and Nicole, rises to the surface… _

Set against the shadows of Grenfell and a country in crisis, these ordinary people are faced with fundamental questions about who they are, what they want and where, and with whom, they want to be.

DIANA EVANS is the author of the novels 26a, The Wonder and Ordinary People. She has received nominations for the Whitbread First Novel, the Guardian First Book and the Commonwealth Best First Book awards and was the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers. Ordinary People won the 2019 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Literature and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and also received a nomination for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction. Her journalism appears in Time magazine, the Guardian, Vogue and the Financial Times. She lives in London.

★★★ Tuesday 20 June 7.30 pm | Penarth Pier Pavilion Tickets: £7.00 / Free for Friends of Penarth Literary Festival

The Penarth Literary Festival is organised by Griffin Books and runs from Wednesday 14 - Sunday 25 June. The festival coincides with Independent Bookshop Week and includes a packed programme of author events, workshops, and lots of other bookish fun for all ages and interests. Click here to find out more [https://www.griffinbooksonline.co.uk/pages/penarth-literary-festival].

• more info

Fancy a night of great swingin' live music and dancing this summer?

Grab your dance shoes and join us on Friday 21 July 2023 as The Swing Project presents: Swing The Pier!

Kick off the evening with our Lindy Hop Taster Class - no experience or partner required

Then join us on the dancefloor as we swing the night away with live music from the incredible Sarah Meek Quintet and ​The Swing Project's resident DJ Jessie Brooks.

Doors Open: 7pm Tickets: £18 The venue bar will be open all night - please do not bring your own alcohol into this event.

More Details at: www.swingproject.co.uk/swingthepier

• more info