Hilary Mantel – The Culture Show BBC2

Eyes On The Prize

‘Wolf Hall’ by Hilary Mantel didn’t just win the Man Booker prize in 2009: it became the fastest-selling Booker winner ever.

Hilary Mantel’s ability to inhabit her characters has brought the author countless fans. Not only is Mantel speaking at the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival on Saturday 17 September 2011, she is also the subject of a one hour BBC2 programme the same evening – the first in the autumn season of The Culture Show.

LINK: The Culture Show
Saturday 17th September (8pm BBC2).

In this intimate and exclusive profile, writer and film-maker James Runcie talks to Hilary Mantel about her childhood and visits the places that have inspired her. The opening sequence is shot at Acton Court, Bristol, an atmospheric Tudor house, where Runcie explores how Mantel works and how she relates to history.

In the course of the filming, Hilary also talks about her approach to developing a novel, from initial hand-written notes to final edit. Some of the scenes are filmed at her home in Budleigh Salterton. The film crew also visit Derbyshire and Cheshire to look at Mantel’s childhood home and convent school.

Mantel talks frankly about her childhood in the north of England, her battles with debilitating illness, and the determination that has driven her to write some of the most moving and memorable fiction of recent years.

Hilary Mantel
Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival Appearance – Saturday 17 September 2011