Damian Barr at Stratford Literary Festival
After seeing a newspaper photo of a boy who’d been murdered, Damian Barr had to know more. The story led him to South Africa, the Boer War and the English Concentration Camps of the era, which have a chilling modern day parallel. Here they ‘make men out of boys’. Over a century earlier, Sarah van der Watt and her son are burned out of their farm and carted to Bloemfontein Concentration Camp, where, the English promise, they will be safe. Linking this hidden history to present-day darkness, Damian Barr, the author of the acclaimed Maggie & Me, has crafted a powerful debut novel.
Price: £10 (£8 students)
Venue: Stratford Play House