Kendal Mountain Book Festival programme 2022

KENDAL MOUNTAIN BOOK FESTIVAL

SHARING THE ADVENTURE THROUGH WORDS, WANDERINGS AND WONDER

WELCOME TO KENDAL MOUNTAIN BOOK FESTIVAL 2022

Welcome to our 2022 Book Festival where authors, poets and musicians join us from across the world to share their stories and journeys. Topical and revelant, we hope to create a space where people can connect with each other; experience events that entertain, surprise and move them.

Our Book Festival Director, Paul Scully says, “Our Festival is a place where we can reflect on our relationships with nature, landscape, society and to each other. A space where people are challenged to be receptive to different ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. We hope you are able to join us, no matter who you are, in this wonderful community of words, wanderings and wonder.”

Our hosts will be in conversation with some of the biggest and emerging names in outdoor writing. All of our live events will be in lovely venues around Kendal, and most will be put online after the event is finished.

We are also delighted to host a new award for nature writing - The Nature Chroniclesfind out more on page 7.

With over 25 events, journey with us as we take you from the rainforests of Great Britain to the highest peaks in the Himalaya; from a hill farm in the Lake District to travelling around the world in 80 trains; and from the bewitching Iceland Westfjords to the evocative northern landscape of Scotland. Look forward to seeing you there!

Let us also take this opportunity to thank our patron, Robert Macfarlane for his unwavering support.

Thanks also to our support partners Bally Peak Outlook Foundation, Gestalten, River Rock Whisky and Smartwool; and to our supporters Anti Racist Cumbria, Berghaus, inov-8, the John Muir Trust, Montane, Mountain Equipment, Timber Festival, UK Research and Innovation, the University of Cumbria and Vertebrate Publishing.

FOLLOW US!

This year’s Book Festival icon features the cover artwork by Holly Ovenden for the book Belonging by Amanda Thomson. Original illustration - top left.

A WORD FROM OUR PATRON ROBERT MACFARLANE

“The first principle of ecology is that ‘everything is connected to everything else’, or as John Muir famously put it: ‘When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.’ Yes, we are all climbers together on this Earth, joined to one another by ropes visible and invisible. The theme of this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival is solidarity; we want to celebrate and affirm the immense webwork of connections and relations that extends across and between the human and more-thanhuman worlds. As any mountaineer knows, solidarity is strength and solidarity is safety. Each is responsible for the other and reciprocal with the other. Successfully to traverse a heavily crevassed glacier, or to top out on a big-wall climb, requires an intricate dance of taking-in and paying-out rope, of togetherness and teamwork, of duty to the group. So this year we come together -- our writers, film-makers and artists, and you our audiences -- to recognise the vital importance of unity, mutual support and generosity of spirit. Viva!”

WATCH ONLINE WITH KENDAL MOUNTAIN PLAYER

Can’t make it an event here in Kendal, catch up from the comfort of your home via our Kendal Mountain Player. Most of our Book Festival events will be recorded live and uploaded within 24 hours, watch individual events from just £3.99 or get unlimited access from 17 November to 31 December for just £48. Find out more at: kendalmountainplayer.com/pages/online-festival

SOPHIE

SABRINA VERJEE

MICK

SHRUBSOLE

DAMIAN HALL WE CAN’T RUN AWAY FROM THIS

5 – 6pm Thursday 17 Nov

Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

Ultrarunner Damian Hall examines the impact of running in our climate and ecological emergency. Packed with insights from experts, it is an enlightening read which will prompt us all to think about our kit, food and travel, and to identify simple changes we can make to our behaviour. Damian is a record-breaking ultrarunner who has represented Great Britain. He is a founding member of The Green Runners, a community of runners working towards a fitter planet. Damian will be in conversation with Ross Brannigan.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

GEORGE MONBIOT REGENESIS

6 – 7pm Thursday 17 Nov Brewery Arts Theatre Tickets £12.50

In this much anticipated event, the author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner, George Monbiot asks ‘what if there were a way to stop climate change and end global hunger at the same time?’ and offers a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity.

Drawing on his new book Regenesis, George shares his profoundly hopeful, appetising and exciting vision of food: of revolutionary cultivation and cuisine that could nourish us all and restore our world of wonders.

George Monbiot will be in conversation with Lee Schofield.

JENNY TOUGH SOLO

8 – 9.45pm Thursday 17 Nov Brewery Arts Theatre Tickets £9.50

Jenny Tough is an endurance athlete best known for competing in some of the world’s most challenging running and cycling events - achieving accolades that are an inspiration to outdoor adventurers everywhere. Join us for a double bill of events with the world premiere of her film, followed by a discussion on her latest book, SOLO. Watch the epic journey unfold on screen and listen to Jenny talk about her bold journey running across the mountain ranges on six continents. Jenny’s story shows us that setting out to do things solo - whether the ambitious or the everyday - can be a true force for joy. Jenny will be in conversation with Immy Sykes.

“Jenny shows us all that the journey to self-belief comes with just as many ups and downs as the mountains she traverses.”

Anna McNuff

“Fascinating and ultimately positive... a harmonic vision of how changing our relationship to land use, farming and the food that we eat could transform our lives.”

Thom Yorke

“Gut-wrenchingly serious but also cleverly light-hearted. It’s impossible to read this book and not make changes to your life.”

Beth Pascall

This event is presented byThis event is supported by

THE NATURE CHRONICLES PRIZE AWARD CEREMONY

7.30 – 8.30pm Thursday 17 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets FREE

Join us as we announce and celebrate the first winners of the prestigious Nature Chronicles Prize. The aim is to find engaging, unique, essay-length non-fiction that responds to the time we are in and the world as it is, challenging established notions of nature writing where necessary.

The winner will receive £10,000 and five runners up £1,000 each. All six winning entries will be published in an anthology by Saraband Publishers. The award is a memorial to Prudence Scott, a lifelong nature diarist who died in 2019.

Find out more at naturechroniclesprize.com

PAUL PRITCHARD THE MOUNTAIN PATH

9 – 10pm Thursday 17 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

Paul Pritchard is an award-winning author and one of the UK’s most visionary and accomplished climbers.

In 1998, Paul Pritchard was struck on the head by a falling rock as he climbed a sea stack in Tasmania.

Close to death, Pritchard kept himself going with a promise that he would ‘at least attempt to live’.

He joins us in Kendal to share his story - an adventure tale like no other, an exploration of a healing brain, a journey into philosophy and psychology, a test of will and a triumph of hope.

Paul will be in conversation with Rachael Crewesmith.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

Joanna Pocock

FRIDAY

This event is presented by

PRADEEP BASHYAL & ANKIT BABU ADHIKARI SHERPA

9.15 – 10.15am Friday 18 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

The authors of Sherpa join us to share the story of the people who live and work on the roof of the world. They’ll dive into their culture pre- and post-mountaineering revolution, their evolution as climbing crusaders with previously unpublished stories from the most notable and incredible sherpas of the last 50 years and hear about their existence at the edge of life and death.

Pradeep Bashyal is a journalist with the BBC based in Nepal.

Ankit Babu Adhikari is a writer, social science researcher and musician.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

This event is supported by

“Thoughtful, irreverent and oh, so eloquent.” Bernadette McDonald

“Finally, the Sherpas are heroes of their own story.” The Spectator

“‘Thank You’ to @NaturePrize for creating such a fertile space for environmental writers.”

PATRICK BARKHAM WILD GREEN WONDERS

11.15am – 12.15pm Friday 18 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

We’re delighted to welcome Patrick Barkham to Kendal to share a selection of twenty years’ worth of writings for the Guardian, bearing witness to the many changes we have imposed upon the planet and the challenges lying ahead for the future of nature.

From Norwegian wolves to protests against the HS2 railway, peregrine falcons nesting by the Thames to Britain’s last lion tamer, Barkham paints an ever-changing portrait of contemporary wildlife.

Patrick will be in conversation with Jamie Normington.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

REBECCA LOWE THE SLOW ROAD TO TEHRAN

1.15 – 2.15pm Friday 18 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

We’re delighted to welcome Rebecca Lowe to Kendal to share her solo cycle adventure across the Middle East.

In 2015 Rebecca set off on her bicycle taking on an 11,000-kilometre route through Europe to Iran. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West. It was an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly defeated her.

Rebecca will be in conversation with Kate Rawles.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

SABRINA PACE-HUMPHREYS BLACK SHEEP

3.15 – 4.15pm Friday 18 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

Sabrina Pace-Humphreys is an ultrarunner, a social justice activist and a recovering alcoholic, a mother of four and grandmother of three.Sabrina joins us to share her story; about growing up in a town where no-one looked like her; her struggle to find her identity; her lived experience of rural racism; how running saved her life; and ultimately about how someone can not only survive but thrive in spite of their past. In July 2020 she co-founded the community and campaigning charity, Black Trail Runners.

Sabrina will be in conversation with Soraya Abdel-Hadi.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

Country Life

“Equal parts illuminating, insightful, inspiring and intimate.”

Jeffrey Boakye

“[Barkam’s] journalistic training, integrity, and appreciation of the natural world shine out.”

“A terrifically compelling book, bursting with humour, adventure and insight into the rich landscapes and history of the Middle East.”

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

This event is supported by

BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE SHORTLISTED AUTHORS EVENT

7 – 9pm Friday 18 Nov

Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £10

Established in 1983 to commemorate the lives of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust celebrates their legacy by awarding the annual Award for Mountain Literature.

On 17 May 1982 Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker were last seen on Mount Everest attempting to traverse The Pinnacles on the unclimbed North East Ridge at around 8250 metres. Their deaths marked the end of their contribution to a remarkable era in British mountaineering.

The winner of the Boardman Tasker Award is a book that Pete and Joe would be proud of being associated with. This years judges are Natalie Berry and Matt Fry, Chair of judges is Marni Jackson.

The award ceremony will contain readings from the authors and they will be in conversation with presenter and legendary mountaineer Stephen Venables. Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

THE 2022 SHORTLIST

Climbing The Walls by Kieran Cunningham

A highly engaging, often humorous account of a dedicated climber who is forced to spend the pandemic in lockdown, in Italy, mostly NOT climbing—and the consequences for his mental health. A reminder of why mountains matter.

Time On Rock by Anna Fleming

A gorgeously written, elegant and sensual account of the intimate relationship between climber and rock, whether it’s the gritstone of the Peak District or the granite of the Cairngorms. A peripatetic meditation on how “we shape the rock and the rock shapes us”.

High Risk by Brian Hall

Brian Hall grew up with the radical climbers who would come to define a wild and glorious chapter of Himalayan mountaineering in the late nineteen seventies and eighties. He partied with them, climbed with them, and grieved many of the eleven unforgettable climbers portrayed in his book.

Through Dangerous Doors by Robert Charles Lee

Robert Charles Lee is a professional risk scientist who likes to test his own limits, in life, love and in the mountains, climbing rock and ice. He doesn’t play safe with his writing either, offering readers his unfiltered, sometimes jaw-dropping account of what it means to take risks, and survive.

A Line Above The Sky by Helen Mort

One of Britain’s best young poets draws a line between the risks and terrors of motherhood and an untethered life in the mountains. Shadowing the life of Alison Hargreaves, the pioneering UK climber who did not give up alpinism when she became a mother, Helen Mort brilliantly explores the visceral education that is part of climbing mountains, and giving birth.

The Mountain Path by Paul Pritchard

After Paul was almost killed by a falling rock while climbing a sea stack in Tasmania, he had to push through new physical limitations to philosophical insights that changed his life. A beautifully written, devastatingly honest account of choosing to live.

LEO HOULDING CLOSER TO THE EDGE

5 – 6.30pm Friday 18 Nov

Brewery Arts Theatre Tickets £12.50

Leo Houlding is one of the world’s best climbers; big walls, Everest, triple peaks in as many days, you name it, Leo’s probably climbed it!

Honest, raw and exhilarating, Leo shares a ‘warts-and-all’ insight into the extreme life of one of Britain’s best climbers who is active today and still planning epic adventures. He will reveal what drives him, how he assesses risk and judges how close to the edge he can go and return safely, and how he balances this with teaching his own children the lessons he has learnt in some of the world’s most dangerous and extreme places. Leo will be in conversation with Rob Greenwood.

ROBERT MACFARLANE, HAYDEN THORPE & SPECIAL GUESTS MUSIC ON NATURE

6 – 7.30pm Friday 18 Nov

The Venue at The Barrel House Tickets £12.50

Tracing the connections between nature and sound, we explore the landscapes around us through music, poems and sound-art. With singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hayden Thorpe, Festival patron Robert Macfarlane, and guest speakers and writers Zaffar Kunial and Amy-Jane Beer, travel through mountain passes and rivers, into places whose sounds have a precarious existence outside the crowded realities of modern life.

Set your ear to the earth and travel through its layers. Join us as we travel through deep time and sing the songs of the Anthropocene.

LEE SCHOFIELD WILD FELL

9.15 – 10.15am Saturday 19 Nov

Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

In 2015, England’s last golden eagle died in an unmarked spot among the remote eastern fells of the Lake District. It was a tragic day for the nation’s wildlife, but the fight to restore the landscape had already begun. Lee joins us to share his calls to recognise that the solutions for a richer world lie at our feet; by focusing on flowers, we can rebuild landscapes fit for eagles again. Lee is an ecologist and site manager for RSPB Haweswater and is leading efforts to breathe life back into two hill farms and their sprawling upland habitat. Lee will be in conversation with Jamie Normington. Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

“I found myself turning the pages with an inward leap of joy.”

Isabella Tree

Longlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Conservation

This event is presented by

“One of the greatest mountaineers ever to have lived.”

Steve Backshall

“Explore what landscapes mean to you, how to tune into and unlock its hidden tracks...”

Faye Latham

FAYE LATHAM BRITISH MOUNTAINEERS

10.15 – 11.15am Saturday 19 Nov

Kendal Town Hall Chambers

Tickets £7.50

Faye Latham joins us to raise questions regarding our relationship with a history which has glorified the conquering of mountain lands to rewrite and remove the stories of so many. She explores the ways in which a mountain might change us; what it might reveal, and what it might erase. It is a visual collection taking F. S. Smythe’s British Mountaineers (1942) as its primary text and transforms the pages through the subtractive process of erasure. Each page is reworked into poetry; landscapes to be experienced through the collage and stitching techniques with which they have been written.

Faye will be in conversation with Anna Fleming.

SOPHIE PAVELLE FORGET ME NOT

11.15am – 12.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

Join Sophie Pavelle on a low-carbon journey around Britain in search of ten animals and habitats threatened by climate change. Sophie is a writer, presenter and science communicator, and she’s determined to demand action on climate change. Hear about the trips she took to see ten of the UK’s rare species first-hand: species that could disappear entirely by 2050 if their habitats continue to decline at their current rate. She also makes the journey a low-carbon one, travelling by bicycle, by kayak, and in lots of trains.

Sophie will be in conversation with Immy Sykes.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

MICK CONEFREY EVEREST 1922

12.15 – 1.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

A chance to uncover the epic story of the first attempt on the world’s highest mountain.

Mick Conefrey goes back to the world before all the queues and commercial operators to tell the tale of the first attempt to climb Everest. It’s a story full of drama and incident, populated by an extraordinary set of characters who are both fascinating in their own right and archetypes for future expeditions. Using their diaries, letters, published and unpublished accounts Mick Conefrey explores the motivations, narrative and dramas of key individuals.

Mick Conefrey is an award-winning author & film-maker specialising in mountaineering and exploration.

“At once luminous, haunting, and unforgettable—the kind of book that changes how you see the mountains and the world.”

“Vibrant and vital. The trials of ten treasured species that we can’t afford to fail. A biological romp with a real mission.”

Katie Ives

Chris Packham

“Mick Conefrey re-illuminates one of the greatest mountain adventures of all time.”

Stephen Venables

GUY SHRUBSOLE THE LOST RAINFORESTS OF BRITAIN

1.15 – 2.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

Join bestselling author Guy Shrubsole for a mesmerising chronicle of our forgotten rainforests. Last year, Guy discovered an extraordinary habitat that he had never come across before: temperate rainforest.

A unique habitat that has become so denuded and fragmented, most people today don’t realise it exists.

Guy says: “From the gnarled, mossclad oaks of Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor to the forgotten rainforest gorges of north Wales, I’ve fallen in love with this magical habitat.”

Guy will be in conversation with Lee Schofield.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

AMANDA THOMSON BELONGING

2.15 – 3.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

Reflecting on family, identity and nature, Belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy. Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are.

Amanda is Scottish writer and visual artist, and a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art.

Amanda will be in conversation with Soraya Abdel-Hadi.

KATE REW THE OUTDOOR SWIMMERS’ HANDBOOK

3.15 – 4.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

The Outdoor Swimming Society founder Kate Rew joins us to share her latest work The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook. Experience vivid first-hand accounts of swims in astonishing places and with remarkable people and hear deeply researched information on how to swim safely. Whether you’re new to outdoor swimming or a seasoned swimmer, Kate Rew explores the rich and varied life of outdoor swimmers, from the physiology of cold to planning lazy hazy downstream swims.

Kate will be in conversation with Colin Hill.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

This event is presented by

Robert Macfarlane

“A formidable, brave and important book.”

Robert Macfarlane

“An evocative, intimate journey through the ways we find home – in family, place, history and language”

Jessica J. Lee

“An important, inspiring book by someone that has encouraged million of people to experience the wonders and friendships of Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas.”

AMY-JANE BEER THE FLOW

4.15 – 5.15pm Saturday 19 Nov

Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

From West Country torrents to Levels and Fens, rocky Welsh canyons and the chalk rivers of the Yorkshire Wolds, Amy-Jane follows springs, streams and rivers to explore themes of wildness and wonder, loss and healing, mythology and history, cyclicity and transformation. Threading together places and voices from across Britain, The Flow is an immersive exploration of our personal and ecological place in nature.

Amy-Jane Beer is a biologist turned naturalist and writer based in North Yorkshire.

Amy will be in conversation with Sophie Pavelle.

RAYNOR WINN LANDLINES

5.15 – 6.15pm Saturday 19 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

We’re delighted to welcome to Kendal global bestselling author Raynor Winn with her latest work Landlines. Join Raynor and her husband Moth on their remarkable 1000-mile walk from Scotland to the South West Coast Path in this powerful account of our country’s land, and the people that make it.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

This event has now sold out but you can also see Raynor on Friday:

WILDERNESS TRACKS WITH RAYNOR WINN

11.30am – 12.30pm Friday 18 Nov Kendal Town Hall Tickets £7.50

We’re delighted to welcome back Wilderness Tracks, presented by BBC Radio 4’s Geoff Bird.

What are the pieces of music that you associate with nature? In this special session of the ‘Wilderness Tracks’ Raynor Winn will join Geoff Bird on stage to share the music that connects her most closely with the world around her, and most particularly the landscape.

“The perfect commingling of deep research with sparkling observation and quiet eddies of feeling, helmed by a lifelong kayaker, biologist and all-round adventurous soul...”

Melissa Harrison

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

Wilderness Tracks is presented in association with Timber Festival - a beautiful weekend of music, forests, art, and ideas set in the heart of The National Forest.

ZOFIA REYCH BORN TO CLIMB

6.15 – 7.15pm Saturday 19 Nov

Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

A celebration of climbing’s eclectic past - from rock climbing pioneers to Olympic athletes. Anthropologist and climber Zofia Reych shares with us the fascinating cultural history of rock and competition climbing with a fresh perspective on some of the pivotal moments and outstanding individuals of the sport, from eighteenth-century exploratory forays on rock, via the rise of climbing legends such as Emilio Comici, Wolfgang Güllich and Lynn Hill, to the limelight of the Olympic arena for the stars of today – Janja Garnbret, Adam Ondra, Shauna Coxsey and more.

Zofia will be in conversation with Immy Sykes.

This event is presented by

“A compelling read... the perfect addition to any backpack!” Sasha DiGiulian

ZAFFAR KUNIAL ENGLAND’S GREEN

6.30 – 7.30pm Saturday 19 Nov Waterstones Kendal Tickets £6

We welcome Zaffar Kunial to Waterstones Kendal, to share his beautiful poetry about the English landscape. In this exciting event we are invited to look at the place and the language we think we know and made to think again.

Through his work, Zaffar will share with us - migrations, memories, little transgressions and disturbances, summoned and contained in small gestures – a hand held, the smell of a newly bred rose or the scratch a limpet makes to mark its home.

BRIAN HALL HIGH RISK

9 – 10pm Saturday 19 Nov Brewery Arts Studio Tickets £7.50

The golden age of Himalayan mountaineering, from the mid 1970s to the ‘80s, brought forth a generation of radical young climbers. With tiny budgets and high ambitions they pioneered light and fast Alpine style expeditions on mountains such as Jannu, Nuptse, Everest, and K2.

In High Risk, Brian Hall recalls the outrageous adventures of eleven of his climbing friends who risked, and too often lost, their lives to stand on the world’s highest peaks at a turning point in mountaineering history.

JESSICA EMSLEY WILD DRAWING WORKSHOP

10.30am – 12.30pm Sunday 20 Nov Scout Scar Tickets £7.50

We welcome artist, Jessica Emsley to Kendal for this outdoor art workshop focusing on deeper observation, and how we might engage with nature through creativity.

Explore the area of Scout Scar and look closer at this local landscape. Participants will be led through a series of experimental drawing exercises, casting vision out into the distance before bringing the focus back to those things nearby, and ultimately ourselves in the landscape. Jessica Emsley is an artist and walker, and an advocate for engagement with nature and the outdoors through creativity.

“Zaffar Kunial is a poet whose work thrills me, who makes you return to the origins of things, places, language and people again and again.”

Jackie Kay

“A riveting insight into a remarkable climbing era.”

Mick Fowler

This event is presented by

HELEN MORT & ANNA FLEMING WOMEN MOVING MOUNTAINS

11am – 12pm Sunday 20 Nov

Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

For Helen Mort and Anna Fleming the mountains represent both freedom and control. Poet and novelist Helen Mort’s A Line Above the Sky is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether climbing a mountain or bringing a child into the world. Anna Fleming’s Time on Rock charts her progress from terrified beginner to confident lead climber, and how learning to climb offered a new relationship with both the landscape and herself.

Helen and Anna will be in conversation with Emily Ankers.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

RENEE MCGREGOR MORE FUEL YOU

11.30am – 12.30pm Sunday 20 Nov

Abbot Hall Social Centre

Tickets £7.50

We’re delighted to welcome leading sports dietitian Renee McGregor to the Kendal stage to share her fascinating insights into the human body and nutrition. Renee will touch on areas of sports nutrition in populations that are often overlooked, including women’s health and the menopause, healthy ageing, and the inclusion of individuals who don’t necessarily conform to the stereotype of an athlete, such as people living with chronic health conditions. Whatever your race, genetics, gender, age, socio-economic status, body type or ability, this session is for you!

Renee will be in conversation with Ross Brannigan.

SABRINA VERJEE WHERE THERE’S A HILL

1 – 2pm Sunday 20 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom

Tickets £7.50

One woman, 214 Lake District fells, four attempts, one record-breaking Wainwrights run.

Sabrina Verjee is an ultrarunning phenomenon. In June 2021, on her fourth attempt, she became the first person to climb the Lake District’s 214 Wainwright hills in under six days, running 325 miles with a colossal 36,000 metres of ascent.

With the launch of her new book

Where There’s a Hill, Sabrina joins us on stage with her frank and inspirational account of how she ran her way into the record books.

Sabrina will be in conversation with Steph Dwyer.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

“Some very interesting reading... for fuelling your body by one of our very best sports nutritionists.”

Jamie Oliver

Jon McGregor on A Line Above The Sky

“There is so much that ultra or fell runners can take from Where There’s a Hill: advice on running, training, nutrition, navigation, psychological approaches, pacers and community.”

“Exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer”

Dr Josephine Perry

MONISHA RAJESH AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TRAINS

1.30 – 2.30pm Sunday 20 Nov

Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

Monisha Rajesh joins us to share fascinating insights from her 45,000 mile adventure across the globe by train. From the cloud-skimming heights of Tibet’s Qinghai railway to silk-sheeted splendour on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, and to celebrate the glory of train travel. Packing up her rucksack - and her fiancé, Jem - Monisha Rajesh embarked on an unforgettable adventure that took her from London’s St Pancras station to the vast expanses of Russia and Mongolia, North Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan, and beyond.

Monisha will be in conversation with Mohammed Dhalech.

MANNI & REUBEN COE brother. do. you. love. me.

3 – 4pm Sunday 20 Nov Brewery Arts Maltroom Tickets £7.50

We welcome Manni and Reuben Coe to share their dazzling story of hope, resilience and repair. Reuben who has down syndrome, had been living in a home for adults with learning disabilities. For months he had been non-verbal, cut off from those he loved. In despair, he sent Manni a text message: ‘brother. do. you. love. me.’

Immediately, Manni left his home in Spain, took Reuben out of care and moved to a cottage in the countryside. They began a routine of walking, from the front drive to the village then into the woods and fields.

Manni & Reuben will be in conversation with Geoff Bird.

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player

SARAH THOMAS THE RAVEN’S NEST

3.30 – 4.30pm Sunday 20 Nov

Kendal Town Hall Chambers Tickets £7.50

Visiting Iceland as an anthropologist and filmmaker in 2008, Sarah Thomas is spellbound by its otherworldly landscape. An immediate love for this country and for Bjarni, a man she meets there, turns a week-long stay into a transformative half-decade, one which radically alters Sarah’s understanding of herself and of the living world.

Written in beautifully vivid prose

The Raven’s Nest is a profoundly moving meditation on place, identity and how we might live in an era of environmental disruption. Sarah will be in conversation with Claire Carter.

“Monisha Rajesh has chosen one of the best ways of seeing the world. Never too fast, never too slow, her journey does what trains do best. Getting to the heart of things. Prepare for a very fine ride.”

Michael Palin

“A dazzling story of hope, resilience and repair for our troubled times.”

Little Toller

“A deeply thoughtful, vivid, enquiring and genre-traversing book... Sarah’s writing draws readers northwards and inwards upon a fascinating journey.”

Robert Macfarlane

OPEN MOUNTAIN 2022 AFFORDING ACCESS

Available to watch on Kendal Mountain Player from Friday 18 November

Tickets - FREE

Open Mountain as a project is focused on connection with nature and wild places, and on redefining mountain literatures and cultures to include voices and experiences often excluded or invalidated. This year, with the escalating cost of living crisis on top of the ongoing pandemic making it harder than ever for many people to access the outdoors, our particular focus is on affording access.

Supported by

What keeps us away from wild places, or from local pockets of greenness? What costs do we pay for access, whether financially, socially, physically or mentally? What if we cannot afford access or access is denied us? Can connecting with nature really help us through bleak times?

In this, our fourth year, Open Mountain is proud once again partnering with the John Muir Trust. The judges this year are Polly Atkin, Kate Davies and Soraya Abdel-Hadi.

ART AT KENDAL MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL

Art remains an integral part of Kendal Mountain Festival and we have worked closely with Brewery Arts to curate a diverse range of artwork from talented local and national artists. Dive in and enjoy each artist’s contribution to the ‘Outdoor’ genre and their personal celebration of landscape, nature and place.

BREWERY ARTS

MARC LANGLEY OUT OF THE SHADOWS Sugar Store Gallery

A deeply personal body of work which explores the void that is left with the loss of a sibling using climbing photography as a vehicle for this exploration.

In conjunction with Petzl, Marc is taking familiar climbing routes and compositions and combining two distinct photography techniques to present something we as a climbing community are familiar with seeing but, in a new light.

Located in the Brewery Arts, Kendal, this stunning exhibition will be open all day every day over the Festival.

The exhibition will run from the 14th November to the 5th December 2022.

Proudly supported by Petzl.

SAMANTHA GARE THE PLACES WE GO TO FEEL SMALL Intro Bar Gallery

Samantha’s work depicts the natural landscapes from which modern lifestyles are increasingly disconnected. Her work aims to share the positive power of nature on the human spirit and soul. She wants to reconnect us to nature and in turn promote us to conserve and respect the wilderness.

Driven by a lifelong passion for nature, she frequently travels to natural environments to inform her work, creating both in the studio and outdoors in the field.

Located in the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, this stunning exhibition will be open all day every day over the festival. The exhibition will run from the 15th November to the 3rd December 2022.

EXHIBITIONS

CROSS LANE PROJECTS GALLERY

SEA TO THE WEST GRAHAM WHITWHAM

Cumbria’s coast extends to some 180 miles of often heavily-indented coastline and has a rich and fascinating history. The images in this collection, from Silverdale in the south to the Solway Firth in the north, form a photographic essay of this unique coast by highlighting places and events of historical note and importance. The images have been originated on traditional film in a wooden panoramic wide-angle pinhole camera which characteristically gives a degree of distortion and softness to the images.

Graham Whitwham was a keen landscape photographer who, for most of his adult life, lived and worked in South Cumbria. This collection of pinhole photographs exploring the Cumbrian coast is taken from “Sea to the West” which was published shortly before his death in 2021.

Cross Lanes Projects Gallery, Cross Lane, Kendal, LA9 5LB. The exhibition will run from the 14th November to the 5th December. The gallery is open Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5pm.

Free Entry

HEATON COOPER STUDIO

WILLIAM HEATON COOPER THE EARLY YEARS - 1903 TO 1943

A touching tribute from a son to his father, from one great artist to another. The exhibition focuses on the early life and work of William Heaton Cooper, and its curator is his son, Julian Cooper, Britain’s foremost living mountain painter, who says “We know that William’s work is loved and appreciated by people who love the Lake District, and especially the mountains of the Lakes. But we think they will be surprised and intrigued by these earlier works.”

Heaton Cooper Studio, Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9SX.

The exhibition is open from now until November 28th.

Free Entry

CHILDREN’S BOOK EVENTS

Abbot Hall Social Club

and Sunday

-

From picture books to novels, stories can help build

and understanding of the world around

We are proud to introduce a literature programme for young people to Kendal, featuring inspiring authors suitable for ages six to fifteen. The full programme is available on the website.

MANUSCRIPTS & MOUNTAINS

10am -

Saturday

Come along to browse a selection of fascinating

celebrating Cumbria’s mountain heritage. And try your hand at drawing like Alfred Wainwright! Free event,

by Cumbria

Tour iconic routes around the world

FESTIVAL BOOKSHOP

Bookshop Tipi

Outside Brewery Arts Centre

Open daily from 9am – 9pm

Looking for your next read? We’ve got all your reading needs covered at our Festival bookshop. We will stock all the books from our current programme.

Come in for a browse, be inspired and take away a cracking read. It’s the perfect place for buying your Christmas presents.

The Festival Bookshop is located in a beautiful Tipi on the lawn in front of the Brewery Arts Centre building.

The bookshop stocks titles by all our visiting authors plus an array of related literature and books.

VENUESBOOKING

INFORMATION

You can book tickets online at kendalmountainfestival.com

REFUNDS

Tickets cannot be exchanged nor money refunded unless an event is cancelled or substantially changed.

Where demand is high for sold-out events, we may take tickets back for resale at our discretion.

Please email with your request to info@mountainfest.co.uk

If resold refunds will be made to the original payment method.

EVENT WAITING LISTS

If an event has sold out, please contact the Box Office to be added to the waiting list.

PLEASE NOTE:

All details are correct at time of print. Please check the website for the most up to date information.

Brewery Arts

Kendal Town Hall Shakespeare Centre

Waterstones

The Venue at The Barrel House Abbot Hall Social Centre

Defeat cold feet

Illustration by Holly Ovenden for the book Belonging by Amanda Thomson.