One Midsummer's Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth

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The winner of the 2022 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, Shunta Morimoto, will dazzle us with a solo recital of Mozart, Brahms and Rameau.

The bestselling author of Crow Country and writer of the Guardian's Country Diary tells the story of all life on Earth through a single day spent in the company of swifts If like me you love swifts, this one is for you, but its scope and appeal takes in a far wider range of summer wildlife, too"Veteran editor Mark Hedge talks about the challenges and rewards of leading Country Life, the magazine synonymous with British country living, for the past seventeen years. An outright classic of his genre... If you thrill to the swifts' arrival (and mourn their annual too-soon departure), this book will enchant as they do... A nature classic for the new century Jim Perrin, author of Snowdon Following on from her experience as “The Ethical Carnivore”, when she ate only what she killed or found over the span of two years and authored a book of the same title, Louise Gray has now shifted her attention to fruit and veg. At the Festival, she will discuss her new book Avocado Anxiety and reveal the results of her investigations into some of our favourite fruits and vegetables – the agricultural and commercial systems behind them and how these impact their carbon footprint and nutritiousness. In this closing session of EA Festival 2023, festival founder Joanne Ooi posed 5 questions to legendary TV producer John Lloyd, leading to some ridiculous anecdotes and absurd pranks. What is even more amazing than what we learn about swifts is how little we know about them, still. Until 1943, when hunters in a Peruvian rainforest flushed out 13 ringed birds from a hollow tree, observers north and south of the equator had no idea where swifts went for half of the year, and we’re still not much the wiser. The birds’ scientific name, Apus apus, comes from a Greek root word meaning “footless” because of an ancient belief that they never landed; in the 17th century, British swift watchers thought they flew to the moon in winter. Now, thanks to a recent Swedish study, we know that in the non-breeding season, many birds spend 99% of their time flying, eating and sleeping on the wing, and some never land at all.

Situates both swifts and humans in the universe in a way that I've not seen done for any species... A beautifully poised book Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast Magnificent [...] One Midsummer's Day situates both swifts and humans in the universe in a way that I've not seen done for any species [...] a beautifully poised book" An outright classic of his genre... If you thrill to the swifts' arrival (and mourn their annual too-soon departure), this book will enchant as they do... A nature classic for the new century -- Jim Perrin, author of SNOWDON A rich and elegant exploration that takes us to unexpected places. With the swift as our lift, we leave the garden on an extraordinary tour that takes in the moon, amongst many other wonderful destinations -- Tristan Gooley, author of HOW TO READ A TREE Anna Mathias and Cullen Murphy delve into the life of Anna’s father, Milton Gendel, the celebrated photographer who lived in Rome for 70 years. Just Passing Through, Gendel’s diaries painstakingly edited by Cullen, are a window thrown open on to the who’s who of artists, writers, and socialites who inhabited la dolce vita and include Mark Rothko, Princess Margaret, Alexander Calder, Anaïs Nin, Gore Vidal and Muriel Spark. His longtime home on the Isola Tiberina was a nerve centre of this glamorous and creative generation, whose comings and goings he immortalised in both words and images.Swifts are among the most extraordinary of all birds. Their migrations span continents and their twelve-week stopover, when they pause to breed in European rooftops, is the very definition of summer. They may nest in our homes but much about their lives passes over our heads. No birds are more wreathed in mystery. The bestselling author of Crow Country and writer of The Guardian's Counrtry Diary tells the story of all life on Earth through a single day spent in the company of swifts. Luke Harding, the Guardian’s front-line correspondent covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will share some of the experiences and impressions captured in his new book, Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival, in addition to giving us an update on the conflict. As both the Moscow bureau chief of the newspaper and someone who has found himself directly in the cross-hairs of Putin, Luke is uniquely well positioned to analyse and report on the war. An outright classic of his genre [...] If you thrill to the swifts' arrival (and mourn their annual too-soon departure), this book will enchant as they do [...] A nature classic for the new century"