Public Talk: Portsmouth The Home of Great Writing I (500 AD – 1900)

Portsmouth_point_OS25_inch_to_mile1858Local publisher and author Matt Wingett takes you on a guided tour of literary Portsmouth, from its earliest appearances in literature through to the end of the Nineteenth Century. Along the way, meet the eccentric Portsmouth man who made umbrellas fashionable, the USA’s first bestselling author, a teenager who wrote the earliest comprehensive history of Portsmouth, the founder of the Society of authors, and many more fascinating Portsmouth characters besides.

As well as locally known writers, you will also meet those who made it onto the international stage, and had something to say about Portsmouth. Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, H G Wells and Charles Dickens all make an appearance, as do other writers less well known who shed a fascinating light on the town.

At times irreverent, highly informative and rich in a sense of place, Matt Wingett’s talk on Portsmouth The Home of Great Writing in which he reveals the town’s rich seam of literary talent has proven highly popular. It has led to requests for Part II – telling the stories of writers from the 20th Century and beyond.

Matt Wingett talks about By Celia’s Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town – one of the books covered in his talk.