“If you tell a story oft enough

So it become true”.

Our Stroud Book Festival 2020 launch event will enchant both those who already love our town, and anyone from further afield who is curious to know more about the heritage and landscape of this most characterful and historic corner of the Cotswolds.

Award-winning Stroud writer Alice Jolly’s astonishing 2018 novel, “Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile”, is told in the voice of Mary Ann Sate, an elderly maidservant who in the last days of the nineteenth century has set out to write down her truth. Her haunting and poignant story brings to life the Stroud Valleys at a time of strife and rapid social change, and evokes the struggles of those who have been forgotten by history.

Now Alice’s novel is being dramatized for audiobook by Gloucestershire’s own Red Dog Productions.

We are thrilled to invite you to join us for the world premiere of the first 30 minutes of Red Dog’s dramatic audio interpretation of “Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile”, preceded by an in-conversation between Alice Jolly and Stroud Book Festival Programme Director Caroline Sanderson, in which Alice will explain the genesis of this very Gloucestershire story.

Four further 15-minute podcast episodes of “Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile” will be broadcast online each successive night of Stroud Book Festival (5^th, 6^th, 7^th & 8^th November) at 10pm.

Wednesday Launch and Episode 1– Watch this event again until 11 November 

Episode 1 – Listen to this event again

Episode 2 – Listen to this event again

Episode 3 – Listen to this event again

Episode 4 – Listen to this event again

Episode 5 – Join this event live on Sunday 8th at 10pm

Buy the Book

The finished audio book will be available on Audible. Check the Red Dog Theatre website for updates.