2026 Greene Festival programme of events
We are delighted to present the 27th annual Graham Greene International Festival which runs from Thursday 24th September to Sunday 27th September. Online ticket booking will go live at the start of June. In the meantime, if you have any questions or queries, email the Festival Director Kevin Ruane at kevin.ruane@canterbury.ac.uk
Follow this link for more information about our brilliant speakers.
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Thursday 24 September
1415 The Court House, Berkhamsted
RICHARD SHEPHERD: Walking Graham Greene’s Common
This perfect Festival curtain-raiser walk is approximately three miles (including some uphill stretches and World War I trenches, so wear stout shoes). The walk is punctuated with readings from Greene’s works. Assemble at the Court House, Church Lane, HP4 2AX. Cars are needed to reach the start at the Inns of Court War Memorial, New Road car park so please let Richard know if you can give a lift to a car-less Festival-goer: email him at shepherd.rw@gmail.com. If wet, there will be an illustrated talk/ readings in the Court House.
1730 The Town Hall, Berkhamsted
FESTIVAL OPENING: reception/supper
Drinks at pay bar from 1730 and supper for those who have booked online from 1830; please book the supper by Thursday 10 September at the latest.
2000 The Civic Centre, Berkhamsted
FILM: A Splinter of Ice (Original Theatre Company, 2021, 88 minutes) followed by playwright Q&A
A recording of Ben Brown’s thought-provoking 2021 stage play introduced by Mike Hill. Moscow, 1987. Graham Greene reunites with his old MI6 boss Kim Philby. The alcohol flows, the reminiscing too. Hovering in the air is a very big question: did Greene always know his friend was a spy and a traitor? With Oliver Ford Davies as Greene and Stephen Boxer as Philby. Playwright Ben Brown will do a Q&A at the end.
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Friday 25 September
0945-1045 The Town Hall, Berkhamsted
DR KEN FOX: Gothicising Graham Greene – Neil Jordan’s 1999 film adaptation of The End of the Affair
Cinema expert and film scholar Ken Fox revisits Neil Jordan’s rendering of Greene’s celebrated 1951 novel, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, in search of the Gothic.
Break for tea and coffee
1115-1215 The Town Hall, Berkhamsted
ADAM SISMAN: “Greene is my influence, not Hemingway” – John le Carré and Graham Greene
John le Carré’s acclaimed biographer Adam Sisman reflects on the Greene-le Carré relationship which, though publicly mutually admiring, was privately complex and sometimes tense.
Break for lunch
1430-1530 The Town Hall, Berkhamsted
JO BAKER: Reading and re-reading Graham Greene
Best-selling author Jo Baker (Longbourn, The Midnight News) offers a personal perspective on Graham Greene, one novelist on another, re-reading and re-interpreting him from a contemporary vantage point.
Break for tea and coffee
1600-1700 The Town Hall, Berkhamsted
ROBERT VERKAIK : The Writer and the Traitor – Graham Greene and Kim Philby
Award-winning journalist and author Robert Verkaik will talk about his new book on Greene and Philby and consider, amongst other things, why Greene stayed loyal to a friend who was also Britain’s most notorious traitor.
1700 Session ends
2000 The Civic Centre, Berkhamsted
FILM: England Made Me (Atlantic Productions, 1973, 97 minutes)
In the only cinematic adaptation of Greene’s 1935 novel, director Peter Duffell moves the action from Sweden to Nazi Germany. Starring Peter Finch, Michael York and Hildegard Neil. Introduced by Mike Hill.
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Saturday 26 September
0945-1045 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
PROFESSOR ANDREW BISWELL: Cover Stories – Graham Greene and the artist Paul Hogarth
The director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Andrew Biswell, paints a portrait of artist Paul Hogarth whose book covers for the Penguin paperback editions of Greene’s novels from the 1960s to the 1980s are a great favourite of Greene readers.
Break for tea and coffee
1115-1215 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
IAN THOMSON: “Our Man in Tallinn” – Graham Greene’s chance encounter with a model spy in Estonia
The award-winning biographer and travel writer Ian Thomson, who spoke so engagingly last year about Greene and Haiti’s Hotel Oloffson, takes us this time round to Estonia in 1934.
Break for lunch
1430-1530 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
MELANIE McDONAGH: Graham Greene, Catholicism and literary turn to Rome 1900 to 1955
Journalist and author Melanie McDonagh will talk about her new book Converts which examines the reasons for the high conversion rate of British writers to Catholicism in the early 20th century, not least of them being Graham Greene.
Break for tea and coffee
1600-1700 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
ROBIN INCE: The Fallen Idol (1948): from short story to the big screen
For many years the co-host with Professor Brian Cox of BBC Radio 4’s hugely popular The Infinite Monkey Cage, Robin Ince looks at the 1948 film The Fallen Idol, directed by Carol Reed with a screenplay by Greene drawn from his story ‘The Basement Room’.
1715-1745 The Graham Greene birthday toast – raise a glass ahead of his 122nd birthday (2 October)
2000 Old Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
FESTIVAL DINNER
Three courses with wine and coffee: vegan/vegetarian options available. Please book online by Thursday 10 September.
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Sunday 27 September
0900 -0950 Old Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
GUIDED TOUR: Berkhamsted School and its archives
Led by archivist Lesley Koulouris the tour takes in the famous green baize door, the Exhibition Room, Old Hall and the School chapel. Meet outside Old Hall promptly at 9 am.
1000-1100 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
CADENCE RUSTAM: Love, loss and betrayal in Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter and The End of the Affair
Cadence, at 22 the youngest ever speaker at the Festival, will reflect on the key themes linking the two early postwar novels that cemented Greene’s status as a writer of international repute.
Break for tea and coffee
1130-1230 Deans Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
DAVID BELBIN: A Greeneland centenary – Graham Greene in Nottingham 1925-1926
Focusing on Greene’s four months living and working in Nottingham in 1925-1926, writer David Belbin shows how this short and often neglected period not only led to Greene becoming a Catholic but set his future trajectory as a novelist.
1300 Old Hall, Berkhamsted School (Castle Street)
FAREWELL LUNCH
A two-course cold buffet, wine and coffee; vegan/vegetarian options available. Please book online by Thursday 10 September.