Marina Warner, Sanctuary

English historian, mythographer, and author of Inventory of A Life Mislaid, Marina Warner will discuss her latest book about sanctuary: what it means for people in desperate situations today, and what refuge and displacement has meant for people throughout history, and the canons of literature and myth.

Saturday 21st June, 4.30pm
Venue: St Leonard-at-the-Hythe Church, Hythe Hill, Colchester, CO1 2NP
Tickets: £12 per event / £10 concessions (Students, Under 27s and Unwaged). All 3 events for £30 / £26 concessions
Box Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948

Part of Spirits, Salons & Sanctuary

An afternoon exploring Spirits, Salons and Sanctuary in the church of St Leonards through new books by poet and translator Philip Terry, poet and novelist Clare Pollard and cultural historian, mythographer and writer Marina Warner. These events are kindly supported by The Bean Trust.

Ticket Deal

Make a day of it! Tickets £12 per event or all 3 events for £30 (Concessions £10 per event or all 3 events for £26).
Discount automatically applied at checkout when tickets for all 3 events are booked:

1.00pm – Philip Terry, Dante’s Purgatorio
2.30pm – Clare Pollard, The Modern Fairies
4.30pm – Marina Warner, Sanctuary

Sanctuary by Marina Warner

Sanctuary is an ancient right. Historically, the law enjoyed a long effective life—when it was abolished during the Reformation it had lasted over a thousand years. Once a fugitive had claimed sanctuary, it was a crime to lay hands on them.

In this groundbreaking book on the sanctuary, Marina Warner uncovers the principles that underpin this tradition in myth and history. The quest takes her to explore the concept of hospitality, the cult of relics, popular shrines and festivals, the imagination of place, and travelling tales.

The book asks some important questions. What is sanctuary now for refugees, forced migrants, and arrivants? What form would a working version of sanctuary take today? How might its memory help develop a counterweight to displacement and loss, build home and foster belonging? Could stories, which have always faced the worst experiences of humanity, also act as a salve, a route to somewhere new and a site of mutual interaction and understanding?

This is a book about sanctuary: what it means for people in desperate situations today, what displacement and flight have meant for people throughout history, and how ideals of home and coexistence are represented in literature and myth. Sanctuary is born of Warner’s work with the project “Stories in Transit” which organises workshops in the UK and in Palermo, bringing together young refugees with artists, writers and musicians to invent or reimagine and perform stories.

Marina Warner

Photo of Marina Warner credit Dan Welldon

Marina Warner is a writer of fiction, criticism and history; her works include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols and fairytales. marinawarner.com

Marina Warner will be in conversation with Festival Director, Ros Green.