Day of Special Interest

Tuesday 18th February 2025

The Second Sex?

A DAY ON WOMEN IN THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE:  ART AND SOCIETY 

with Sarah Dunant 

We are absolutely delighted to welcome back Sarah Dunant to The Arts Society Corinium, following her outstanding talk on The Borgias last year. As a writer and historian, she has written five best selling novels featuring the lives of women in the Italian Renaissance, from infamous figures like Lucrezia Borgia and the patron Isabella d’Este to the unknown and unsung; painters, writers, courtesans and nuns. Thanks to recent feminist history, their stories are now being brought to light, shining a different torch beam onto art and culture.  

Sarah Dunant  thinks one of the problems with Days of Special Interest is they ask a little too much of the audience.  However fascinating the subject, three lectures - being talked to for so long - can feel more like school then fun. THE SECOND SEX is an attempt to address that.   

This Day of Special Interest takes a slightly different format by offering two lectures before lunch and a book group in the afternoon.  It is a Day of Special Interest where what the participants think is as important as what the lecturer knows. 

1.     The Second Sex: the rich history of courtesans and nuns.    

2.     A Portrait of One Great Woman:  Isabella d'Este, patron, collector, fashion icon and political manipulator.

3.    Lunch

4.    Book Group:  Participants are encouraged to read one of her Renaissance books as listed below, before the day, to get more out of the session.  We would then come together to discuss this slippery, wonderful thing called historical fiction. 

However, this is not obligatory and you can be a fly on the wall instead!


THE NOVELS IN QUESTION: 

The Birth of Venus

In the Company of the Courtesan

Sacred Hearts 

Blood and Beauty

In the Name of the Family

Biography of Sarah Dunant


Novelist, broadcaster and critic.  Sarah read history at Cambridge, then worked for many years as a cultural journalist in radio and television on such programmes as Kaleidoscope (BBC Radio 4), The Late Show (BBC 2), and Night Waves/Free thinking (BBC Radio 3).  She has published thirteen novels, taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis and lectured around the world at festivals and conferences.  Her last five novels have been set within the Italian Renaissance.  In the Name of the Family completes the story of the Borgia family and the remarkable period of Italian history in which they lived. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s A POINT OF VIEW and these talks, alongside her series on history for Radio 4, When Greeks Flew Kites are available on podcast or BBC sounds. 

Venue:  Cirencester Baptist Church, Chesterton Lane, Cirencester Glos, GL7 1YE

Cost:   £58 and for non-members £63

The day includes coffee/tea on arrival and after the first lecture, as well as a delicious 2 course hot lunch, with a choice of 3 main courses and desserts.