The Red Emperor - Michael Sheridan
Tuesday, 19 November, 12 noon, The Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket, Suffolk
Wednesday, 20 November, 6:30 pm, Abbey Hall, Eye, Suffolk
supported by
After speaking about his award-winning history of Hong Kong, The Gate to China: a New History of the People’s Republic of Hong Kong, during EA Festival 2022, veteran foreign affairs journalist and critically acclaimed historian Michael Sheridan is back in East Anglia to introduce his new book, The Red Emperor, a biography of Xi Jinping based on two decades of first-hand reporting including “intimate stories from the closed world of China’s leading families.”
About The Red Emperor
‘One of the best informed and wisest writers on China.’ - CHRIS PATTEN
‘Extraordinary…compelling’ - DAILY MAIL
In a compulsively readable narrative that was serialised by the Daily Mail, Michael Sheridan takes the reader from the poor, isolated country of Xi’s youth to the military and economic superpower of today. In Xi’s new China, family mafias struggle for power amid murder, corruption and sex scandals as ministers and generals vanish in purges. No one is safe in his techno-security state. Xi is an absolute ruler whose word is law on everything from war and peace to the ruthless campaign against Covid-19. He aims to dominate world trade, to defeat Western democracy and to make China the supreme power in the East. A loner and a risk-taker, he is the most consequential leader of our time.
About Michael Sheridan
Michael Sheridan first reported from Hong Kong and China in June 1989 and later served as the Far East correspondent of The Sunday Times for 20 years, covering the rise of China, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the city's struggle for democracy. In 2021, he published The Gate to China: a New History of the People’s Republic of Hong Kong, a painstakingly researched history of the rise of China and the fall of Hong Kong to authoritarian rule
Earlier he worked for Reuters, ITN and the Independent, reporting on war in the Middle East, global diplomacy and European politics, with postings in Rome, Beirut and Jerusalem. His work has also appeared in the Spectator, Tablet and Vanity Fair.
In partnership with The Jockey Club Rooms and Eye Talks, Michael will reprise the EA Festival stage on two consecutive days in November:
Tuesday, 19 November, 12 noon, The Jockey Club Rooms
The Jockey Club Rooms is one of East Anglia’s most prestigious and historic institutions and The Red Emperor - Michael Sheridan is just one event in EA Festival’s ongoing lunchtime series at the Rooms.
On 19 November, a one-hour talk by Michael Sheridan, moderated by EA Festival founder Joanne Ooi, will take place at 12 noon, followed by a glass of champagne and a two-course set lunch (with one glass of wine) in The Coffee Room.
There will be an optional free tour of the Jockey Club Rooms' art collection, arguably the world's finest collection of equine art including paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings and George Stubbs, at 11 am.
Tickets inclusive of champagne and lunch are £75 and tickets for the talk alone are £22. The tour of the art collection is open to all ticket holders.
Dress code: Smart casual (but no trainers or denim)
20 November, 6:30 pm, Abbey Hall, Eye, Suffolk
Eye Talks is a leading talk and event series based in Suffolk presenting speakers and events about current affairs and geopolitics. On 20 November, EA Festival is pleased to partner with Eye Talks to present The Red Emperor - Michael Sheridan at Abbey Hall, an impeccably refurbished brewhouse of a 15th century Benedictine priory.
In this appearance, Michael will be interviewed by China expert and writer, Charis Blomfield.
Tickets for the talk are £22 and include a glass of wine. Doors open at 6 pm.