Kendal Mountain Literature Festival 2021

KENDAL MOUNTAIN LITERATURE FESTIVAL LIVE & ONLINE

EXPLORING CREATIVITY AND CONNECTION IN LANDSCAPE, NATURE, PEOPLE AND PLACE

WITH THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

PRESENTING PARTNER

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

SUPPORTERS

WELCOME TO KENDAL MOUNTAIN LITERATURE FESTIVAL

This year’s Festival theme is centred around ‘Movement’. Celebrating the physical potential and awe-inspiring achievements of bodies from all abilities; the continuing urgent activism to protect our environment and the communities that create change and shift attitudes through the great outdoors.

Our connection with the natural world is more than a luxury: it is vital to our hearts, lives and health. The stories we tell can shape the future, politically as well emotionally, for the better. To communicate with nature and landscape in a way that keeps us rooted and adventurous whilst caring and protecting.

Our Literature 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 ideas, words and wanderings.”

Join us on a journey around the world through this year’s best writing exploring landscape, nature, people and place. Our hosts will be in conversation with some of the biggest names in outdoor writing. An exciting voice in mountain and outdoor literature: ‘Open Mountain’ returns for its 3rd year. This year our particular focus is on unlocking landscapes, big and small. You can read more on the next page.

We are also delighted to host the Future Places Environmental Essay and Poetry Prize. A new UK wide prize for environmental writing - find out more on page 61.

For our younger readers we have four brilliant children’s authors sharing their stories on the YETI Stage in the Abbot Hall Basecamp - full details on page 62.

With over 25 events, journey with us in this as we take you from the 1962 women’s Pinnacle Club expedition to Jagdula to surviving in the African wilderness, from walking Europe’s unlikely landscapes to the story of a fell running punk rocker, and from Indian nature writing to a perilous voyage into Antartica. Look forward to seeing you there!

Let us also take this opportunity to thank our patron, Robert Macfarlane for his unwavering support – we’re delighted he will be joining us for two special events at the Festival.

Thanks also to our presenting partner The Camping and Motorhome Club, and our support partners Gestalten, Iceland, Mountain Equipment, the John Muir Trust and Tree Top Trek.

PRESENTED BY

A WORD FROM OUR PATRON ROBERT MACFARLANE

“The pandemic pinned us all down, fixed us in place, bound us to our homes, our gardens, our neighborhoods. For many of us, the mountains, seas, rivers and forests became places we could only dream of reaching. Now at last, people can move once more -- can reach again the landscapes that live deep in their hearts and minds and bodies. So it’s right as can be that this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival takes ‘Movement’ as its theme, celebrating the several rich senses of that word: emotion, physical action, and -- in the month of COP26 -- political change. The 2021 Literature Festival programme sings and rings with movement of all kinds: through cave-systems and forests, over fell-sides and mountain summits, running, walking and climbing, travelling by train, bike and foot, into Muslim Europe and the future of ice on Earth. Voices join us from India, South Africa and Europe, raised in celebration, exploration and passionate defence of the natural world and our part in it.

Come, lend an ear, be moved!”

This year’s Literature Festival icon features the cover artwork by Andy Lovell for the book Outlandish by Nick Hunt. Taken from the original illustration - top left.

Emily Chappell and Max Leonard

OPEN MOUNTAIN

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY THE JOHN MUIR TRUST

Open Mountain is a new voice in mountain and outdoor literature. A panel discussion with performance prose and poetry, it focuses on connection with the outdoors and nature, and on redefining mountain literatures and cultures to include voices and experiences often excluded or invalidated.

The first Open Mountain event ‘inclusion and connection’ was held at Kendal Mountain Literature Festival, 2019. Created out of a discussion with the poet Kate Davis we then developed it with the help of poet Polly Atkin and writer Anita Sethi. We sought submissions from people who consider themselves under-represented in mountain and outdoor literature, asking for responses to some questions about how they felt about the outdoors and nature writing. We were overwhelmed and deeply impressed by the breadth, range, and quality of work submitted, and wished we could include more of it.

We were delighted to invite to the screen; Kim-Marie Walker who shared her essay Scrambling – the voice of a Black American, a descendant of Africans enslaved & navigator of systemic racism, who is indebted to nature’s kinship; Andrew Wang described his fell running experiences; Elspeth Wilson discussed how we live in a body; Nayeli Urquiza-Haas shared a glimpse into climbing cultures and spaces in Mexico City; and Aileen Mckay spoke about the outside inside.

OPEN MOUNTAIN 2021: UNLOCKING THE LANDSCAPE

In our third year our particular focus is on unlocking landscapes, big and small. What does it mean to you to gain access to a landscape, and how does it happen? Are there barriers to face, physical or psychological? We want to know about connections you have made with places and how you approach different green and living spaces, from plant-pots to local parks to mountain ranges and oceans. You could tell us about a place that makes you feel like there are no gates, no walls and no locks, or a place you’ve struggled to find the key to.

People need to be able to recognise themselves in narratives about places to find a place in them, and to believe they can have a place in and with them.

Open Mountain hopes to show what is already there, but often not seen: the rich and various connections people have with mountains and wild landscapes, and the rich and various worlds they find within them. We hope you will join us.

This is a free event taking place online at 11am on Sunday 21st November, and available for catch up on Kendal Mountain Player.

2020 CONTRIBUTOR

KIM-MARIE WALKER

‘What I cherish about being in nature is developing kinship with place, the inevitable sense of expansiveness, and the ability to experience solitude. For me, conceptual ‘Open Mountain’ is not about inclusion of marginalised peoples but more so a significant portal to realise our collective truest nature: as colliding nanoparticles rematerialising infinitely. As a change agent for disrupting the vernacular use of “inclusion” and “underrepresented” I take my rightful place in any space I chose to enter. I don’t need anyone to nudge or create space for me in the landscape. Taking my rightful place, I aim to co-create, not to ‘sit at a table’ systemically built to keep me out. I am an emancipated woman. Meet me on the mountain as an equal without question, without hesitation. Know this: Nature as place is so elemental to humans that maintaining systemic institutional racism or structural inequity is rigged to damn humanity.’

Open Mountain 2020 with Kate Davis & Polly Atkin

Open Mountain 2020 contributors

Kim-Marie Walker

JOSEPHINE SCARR FOUR MILES HIGH

17.00 - 18.00

THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Josephine Scarr presents Four Miles High - which tells her story from 1961, when aged 24 she formed the Women’s Kulu Expedition with a friend and drove overland to India where they hired Ladakhi porters, mapped a previously untrodden, unexplored glacier in the Kulu district (now Kullu) and achieved first ascents of two 6,000m peaks. An 8000 mile journey and a year-long Indian adventure making what everyone said was impossible possible.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

KAREN LLOYD ABUNDANCE: NATURE IN RECOVERY

19.00 - 20.00

THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Karen takes to the stage to share a collection of literary essays, exploring abundance and loss in the natural world. Her insightful and joyous narrative takes us through a diverse range of landscapes, from Romania’s Carpathian mountains to the dune forests of the Netherlands. Discover compelling stories of restoration, renewal and repair and get together with a community who share a desire to improve the wellbeing of the planet.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

VICTOR SAUNDERS

STRUCTURED CHAOS

21.00 - 22.00 THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Structured Chaos is a testament to the value of friendship and the things that really matter in life: being in the right place at the right time with the right people, and making the most of the view. This is not just a tale of mountaineering triumphs, but also an account of rescues, tragedies and failures. Telling his story with humour and warmth, Saunders spans the decades from youthful awkwardness to concerns about age-related forgetfulness, ranging from ‘Where did I put my keys?’ to ‘Is this the right mountain?’

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

PAUL PRITCHARD THE MOUNTAIN PATH

09.15 - 10.15 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

In 1998, Paul Pritchard was struck on the head by a falling rock as he climbed a sea stack in Tasmania called the Totem Pole. Close to death, waiting for hours for rescue, Pritchard kept himself going with a promise that given the chance, he would ‘at least attempt to live’. Left hemiplegic by his injury, Pritchard has spent the last two decades attempting to live, taking on adventures that seemed impossible for someone so badly injured while plumbing the depths of a mind almost snuffed out by his passion for climbing.

Please note: this is a live event with a presenter on stage and Paul Pritchard on video link.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

SICELO MBATHA & BRIDGET PITT BLACK LION

11.30 - 12.30 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Wilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime’s intimate association with Africa’s wildest nature. Black Lion begins in rural South Africa where a deeply traumatic childhood experience – a cousin being dragged away by a crocodile – should have turned him against the surrounding wilderness. Instead, he was irresistibly drawn to it. As a volunteer at Imfolozi Nature Reserve, close encounters with animals taught him to ‘see’ with his heart and thus began a spiritual awakening. Bridget Pitt is a South African writer, environmental activist and art teacher. Please note: this is a live event with a presenter on stage and Sicelo Mbatha and Bridget Pitt on video link.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

MONISHA RAJESH EPIC TRAIN JOURNEYS

13.15 - 14.00 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

ABBOT HALL BASECAMP - YETI STAGE

Train expert Monisha Rajesh presents 50 legendary routes inspired by her extensive voyages. This wondrous journey winds through mountainous terrains and tropical jungles.

Presented by Gestalten. FREE EVENT

JULIE BROOK NATURE’S BONFIRE

13.45 - 14.45 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Julie Brook is an artist who works in the landscape, from the Jebel Acacus mountains in Libya to the semi-desert of Namibia. She is particularly drawn to remote, uninhabited places, in which the artist works with natural materials at hand to create site-specific and transient sculptures within the landscape itself. Julie will give a visual presentation of her work and how it has evolved leading to her exploration of her Firestack work though the seasons in the Hebrides.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

ROBERT MACFARLANE IN CONVERSATION WITH NEHA SINHA & YUVAN AVES

16.00 - 17.00 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Robert Macfarlane talks to two of India’s leading conservationists about their recently published books and conservation and environmental activism in India. Neha Sinha is the author of Wild and Wilful In this book we meet fifteen iconic Indian species in need of conservation and heart. With an equal emphasis on human and animal, science and skilled prose, the book reveals the magic of the wild in our daily lives. Yuvan Aves is the author of A Naturalist’s Journal, a collection of essays. He is the recipient of the M.Krishnan Nature Writing Award, conferred by the Madras Naturalists’ Society. He is currently travelling and documenting stories along the Indian coastline.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S & OVER 65S £6

1962 Jagdula expedition

Sicelo Mbatha

ELISE DOWNING COASTING: RUNNING AROUND THE COAST OF BRITAIN

18.45 - 19.45 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Elise had just graduated from university; she had a new flat, her first proper job and a budding relationship - and they were all making her utterly miserable. Sitting at work one day, she hit upon the obvious solution: run 5,000 miles around the coast of Britain.

Six months later Elise set off, with absolutely no ultra-running experience, unable to read a map and having never pitched a tent alone before. Coasting is about putting one foot in front of the other, even when it feels impossible, and trying to enjoy it too!

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

FRED PEARCE A TRILLION TREES

19.00 - 20.00 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

ONLINE EVENT

Author Fred Pearce takes to the screen to share his vivid new work A Trillion Trees. An inspiring new work taking us from the barren sites of illegal logging and monocrop farming to the smouldering rainforests of the Amazon, Fred Pearce tells a revelatory new history of the relationship between humans and trees – and shows us how we can change it for the better.

Combining vivid travel writing with cutting edge science, A Trillion Trees is both an environmental call to arms and a celebration of our planet’s vast arboreal riches.

Please note: this is an online event only. Individual tickets are valid for the live stream event and catch up until the 28th November.

TICKETS £5

JULIAN SANCTON THE MADHOUSE AT THE END OF THE EARTH

20.30 - 21.30 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

ONLINE EVENT

Julian Sancton shares the enthralling and true tale of an 1897 Belgian Antarctic expedition which went horribly astray. In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of setbacks, the commandant faced two options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters.

Please note: this is an online event only. Individual tickets are valid for the live stream event and catch up until the 28th November.

TICKETS £5

SARAH-JANE DOBNER A FEELING

FOR ROCK

21.00 - 22.00 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Sarah-Jane Dobner to join us to share her love for all things ‘Rock’ and those feelings that connect all of us who choose climbing as our passion.

Her work A Feeling for Rock is a clever mix of poetry, cartoons, essays, interviews, weavings, photographs and technical tips, A Feeling for Rock explores being bamboozled by a route, connecting with the landscape or flicking through a guidebook.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

RICHARD WALKER THE GREEN GROCER

09.15 - 10.15 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Richard Walker, who owns the supermarket chain, Iceland, is disrupting this critical sector with his own brand of corporate activism. In the face of global warming, companies are moving towards more eco-friendly business practices and embracing their corporate social responsibility. The Green Grocer explores how one business owner did just that.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

RUTH ALLEN GROUNDED

11.30 - 12.30 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Grounded explores the concept of rewilding as an intentional way of living in the modern age that is both disconnected from nature and hyperconnected to technology.

Reflecting on nature’s unknowable and mysterious qualities, Ruth Allen explores how we can therapeutically benefit from a deeper connection with nature, finding within it balance, stillness, solitude, resilience, contentment, activity, fearlessness - and our own wild voice.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

THARIK HUSSAIN

MINARETS IN THE MOUNTAINS

13.45 - 14.45 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Tharik Hussain joins us on stage with a magical, eye-opening account of a journey into a Europe that rarely makes the news and is in danger of being erased altogether. Another Europe. A Europe few people believe exists and many wish didn’t. Muslim Europe. Londoner Tharik Hussain sets off with his wife and young daughters around the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe, and explores the regions of Eastern Europe where Islam has shaped places and people for more than half a millennium.

The first English travel narrative by a Muslim writer on this subject, also explores the historical roots of European Islamophobia. Tharik and his family learn lessons about themselves and their own identity as Britons, Europeans and Muslims.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

Elise Downing

Ruth Allen

STEFAN AMATO BIKEPACKING

14.00 - 14.45 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

ABBOT HALL BASECAMP - YETI STAGE

Bikepacking is the publication to discover the adventurous spirit of life on two wheels. Exploring journeys in different regions around the world, introducing the people and culture around it, and giving you the lowdown of all the tips and tricks, Stefan Amato presents the insights and inspiration to plan your expeditions. Whether beginner or experienced, this is a journey for everyone to enjoy. This event is presented by Gestalten.

FREE EVENT

NICK HUNT OUTLANDISH

16.00 - 17.00 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Returning to Kendal, acclaimed travel writer Nick Hunt takes us across landscapes that should not be there, wildernesses found in Europe yet seemingly belonging to far-off continents: a patch of Arctic tundra in Scotland; the continent’s largest surviving remnant of primeval forest in Poland and Belarus; Europe’s only true desert in Spain; and the fathomless grassland steppes of Hungary.

From snow-capped mountain range to dense green forest, desert ravines to threadbare, yellow open grassland, these anomalies transport us to faraway regions of the world.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

FUTURE PLACES

ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY PRIZE

17.15 - 18.15 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

SHACKLETON TENT - RAB STAGE

Welcome to this new UK wide prize for environmental literature. The Future Places Prize called for essays and poems that illustrated how literature can be a revelatory and imaginative force for transforming the way we encounter—and understand our place within—the living world.

Future Places writer in residence Karen Lloyd will be onstage with the judges and the winning writers.

FREE EVENT

RICK STANTON AQUANAUT: A LIFE BENEATH THE SURFACE

18.45 - 19.45 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

While the world held its breath, Rick Stanton and his fellow cave divers raced against time in the face of near impossible odds. Now Rick joins us to share his new book Aquanaut which follows the incredible Thai cave rescue in an edge-of-your-seat story of courage and conviction that will take you deep into the most remote and unforgiving places on the planet. In July 2018, twelve boys and their football coach disappeared into Tham Luang Cave in Thailand. Trapped miles beneath the surface, not even the Thai Navy SEALs had the skills to bring them to safety. Any hope of survival rested on a group of British cave divers; experts, specialists, and very much individuals.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE

19.00 - 20.00 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER ONLINE EVENT

Established in 1983 to commemorate the lives of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, the Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust celebrates their legacy by presenting the annual Award for Mountain Literature. Hosted by Stephen Venables with readings from the authors, and the announcement of the winner by the Chair of Judges. Full information on page 60.

Please note: this is an online event only. Individual tickets are valid for the live stream event and catch up until the 28th November.

TICKETS £5

BOFF WHALLEY WITH GARY DEVINE FASTER! LOUDER!

21.00 - 22.00 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Author and Chumbawamba guitarist, Boff Whalley tells the true story of how Gary Devine - a teenage punk from Yorkshire, seemingly existing on a diet of cider, parties and loud music - rose to the top in the toughest of sports to become British Champion Fell Runner. It’s a tale that focuses on the races that made up Devine’s victorious 1990 season, while opening out to understand how the unruly, fearless ethos at the heart of punk could chime perfectly with the spirited, gutsy and dauntless root of mountain running; how the elements of surprise and daring are central to both.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

OPEN MOUNTAIN UNLOCKING THE LANDSCAPE

11.00 - 12.00 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER ONLINE EVENT

An exciting panel discussion with performance prose and poetry aiming to showcase those underrepresented in the outdoors.

Full details on page 55.

Please note: this is an online event only. Individual tickets are valid for the live stream event and catch up until the 28th November.

TICKETS £5

JEMMA WADHAM ICE RIVERS

11.45 - 12.45 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Jemma Wadham shares a riveting tale of icy landscapes on the point of irreversible change, stories of encounters with polar bears an survival in the wilds under the midnight sun, stories of glaciers, wilderness and the intertwined link to humanity.

As one of the world’s leading glaciologists, Professor Jemma Wadham has proved that glaciers, previously thought to be freezing, sterile environments, in fact teem with microbial life.

Jemma Wadham is Professor of Glaciology at UiT Arctic University of Norway and University of Bristol, and she has led more than twenty-five expeditions to glaciers around the world, including to Greenland, Antarctica and Svalbard.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

The Rescue (film)

Rick Stanton

ALEX RODDIE WANDERLUST ALPS

13.00 - 13.45 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

ABBOT HALL BASECAMP - YETI STAGE

Wanderlust Alps charts the mountain range’s best routes and hidden trails away from the crowds.

Alex Roddie is an active backpacker, mountaineer, and climber with over 15 years of outdoor experience.

This event is presented by Gestalten.

FREE EVENT

NED FEEHALLY BEASTMAKING WITH SHAUNA COXSEY

13.15 - 14.15 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

KENDAL TOWN HALL

Hosted by Shauna Coxsey, Ned Feehally joins us on stage to share his new book about training for climbing. His insights are designed to provide people of all climbing ability with the tools to get the most out of our climbing.

Ned Feehally is one of the world’s top climbers and co-founder of Beastmaker. He has been climbing for over twenty years, is a three-time British bouldering champion, has competed in world cup finals, and has been at the heart of pushing climbing standards in the UK over the last ten years.

TICKETS £10 / U18S £6

PHILIPPA HARRISON

MOUNTAIN REPUBLIC: A LAKE DISTRICT PARISH

14.00 - 15.00 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Join Phliippa Harrison as she shares a fascinating insight into one of the most beautiful and bestloved corners of England - Crosthwaite Parish - nestling deep within the mountains and valleys of the Lake District. Crosthwaite Parish lies within the heart of the Lake Poets’ landscape and its rugged terrain excites passion in all those who know it. Less known is that this Parish boasts a remarkable history and was at the heart of the creation of the National Trust and blazed a trail for a wider movement to preserve the English landscape.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

ANITA SETHI I BELONG HERE

16.15 - 17.15 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - MALT ROOM

Racial abuse prompted Anita Sethi to pause and turn a horrendous experience into an adventure as she decided to set out on a hike across the backbone of England in a bid to examine feelings of identity, place and belonging.

The Pennines - known as ‘the backbone of Britain’ runs through the north and also strongly connects north with south, east with west - it’s a place of borderlands and limestone, of rivers and ‘scars’, of fells and forces. The Pennines called to Anita with a magnetic force; although a racist had told her to leave, she felt drawn to further explore the area she regards as her home, to immerse herself deeply in place.

TICKETS £7.50 / U18S £6

POLLY ATKIN

RECOVERING DOROTHY

16.15 - 17.15 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

ONLINE EVENT

Polly Atkin joins us on screen to share her latest work The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth Dorothy Wordsworth is well known as the author of the Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals (1798–1803) and as the sister of the poet William Wordsworth. She is widely praised for her nature writing and is often remembered as a woman of great physical vitality. Less well known, however, is that Dorothy became seriously ill in 1829 and was mostly housebound for the last twenty years of her life. By re-examining her life through the perspective of her illness, this biography allows Dorothy Wordsworth to step out from her.

Please note: this is an online event only. Individual tickets are valid for the live stream event and catch up until the 28th November.

TICKETS £5

Jemma Wadham

Ned Feehally

BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE SHORTLISTED AUTHORS EVENT PRESENTED BY MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT

19.00 - 20.00 SATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER ONLINE EVENT

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. Their deaths marked the end of their contribution to a remarkable era in British mountaineering.

The Boardman Tasker Award highlights afresh the memory of Pete and Joe, but it also seeks to do more than just that. The Award recognises and rewards outstanding literature concerned with the mountain environment: books which will in turn challenge and inspire their readers, perhaps to climb or explore the world of mountains, perhaps to write or perhaps to look at the world in a different way. Perpetuating and refreshing the challenge and inspiration of mountains through literature is one way in which we seek to remember them. The winner of the Boardman Tasker Award is a book that Pete and Joe would be proud to be associated with.

This year there were 41 books submitted on a broad range of topics, of which the following six have been shortlisted.

ED CAESAR THE MOTH AND THE MOUNTAIN

Caesar’s account of Maurice Wilson’s attempt to fly to and climb Mount Everest is an often tragic and pathetic story but never judgmental. Wilson could be the woefully unprepared climber we’d all like to despise but Caesar helps us to develop a warm attachment to him; Wilson frankly deserved better in death and this book is a fitting tribute to his journey.

ED DOUGLAS

HIMALAYA: A HUMAN HISTORY

An extensively researched book exploring the human histories of the Himalaya and how the mountains and their geological and imagined boundaries have shaped people and place. Douglas breaks down the romanticised Western stereotypes of Sherpas and other native peoples in the region and the exchanges, exploits and exploitations that have occurred on the ‘roof of the world’.

The Judging Panel for the 2021 Boardman Tasker Award is:

DAVID CANNING

David is a poet from the flat lands of Colchester, Essex, but with a passion for mountains. The only reason why he has not (yet) moved to a more vertiginous part of the world is because he works in the Civil Service in Westminster. However, he gets out to crags and mountains across the UK and Europe as often as he can (the Dolomites are a favourite place), and, as a sideline, works as a climbing instructor at the University of Essex.

NATALIE BERRY

Natalie is Editor-in-Chief of UKClimbing.com, the world’s busiest climbing and mountaineering website. She has been climbing for over 20 years, is a former GB Climbing Team member and enjoys a variety of climbing disciplines. She is also a freelance writer with work published in various outdoor and adventure publications. Natalie has also translated mountaineering and climbing books for Vertebrate Publishing. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.

STEPHEN FABES SIGNS OF LIFE: TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD WITH A DOCTOR

Engaging, heartwarming, and often very funny, Fabes’ accounts of his journeys around the world on a bicycle, and the people he meets along the way, are culturally sympathetic, mature, and poignant.

HELEN MORT NEVER LEAVE THE DOG BEHIND

Explores the deep bond that exists between people, their dogs, and the mountains with delightful prose and poetry. The dogs that feature are often the main characters in Mort’s storytelling, but she also manages to expertly weave in personal elements too.

ELISABETH REVOL TO LIVE: FIGHTING FOR LIFE ON THE KILLER MOUNTAIN

The compelling account of Revol’s survival on Nanga Parbat in winter, of survivor’s guilt and the need to tell her story as an act of healing. The writing is visceral and honest, and Revol speaks a universal truth about mountaineering that needs to be heard.

DAVID SMART

EMILIO COMICI: ANGEL OF THE DOLOMITES

A very impressive biography, well written and researched, of one of Italy’s foremost climbers, who put up some of the first big wall climbs and developed new climbing style and techniques.

MARNI JACKSON

Marni has been a faculty editor for the Banff Centre’s Mountain and Wilderness Writing program since this unique residency was created fifteen years ago. A number of books that began as early drafts in the peace and solitude of the MWW program went on to become finalists— or winners—of the Boardman Tasker award. So she is delighted to be involved this year in celebrating the literary achievements of some of the climbers, explorers, journalists and adventurers she’s encountered during her years in Banff.

Pete Boardman & Joe Tasker © Vertebrate

FUTURE PLACES 2021

ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY PRIZE

17.15 - 18.15 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE - SHACKLETON TENT - RAB STAGE

Welcome to this new UK wide prize for environmental literature. The Future Places Environmental Essay and Poetry Prize is a partnership between Lancaster University Future Places Centre, Eden North, Iceland, Kendal Mountain Literature Festival and Saraband publishers.

We are living in a time of urgent environmental challenge; ecosystems are under stress and many species are in decline, but perhaps more than ever before we are also aware of the human capacity for restoration in the natural world.

The Future Places Prize called for essays and poems that illustrated how literature can be a revelatory and imaginative force for transforming the way we encounter—and understand our place within—the living world.

The Judges are; Jenn Ashworth (Professor of Creative Writing, Lancaster University); John Wedgewood Clarke (Senior lecturer, Creative Writing, University of Exeter) and Chair of Judges Tim Smit, Eden Centre and Eden North.

‘We are really excited to be supporting new Nature writing. The times we live in have created a heightened awareness of our dependence on the natural world and all the interdependencies in between. In our view this creates a magnificent stage on which to amplify special talents to work their magic on audiences both new and old. This prize is intended to encourage the sentiment that Nature writing can reach a wide audience if given the attention and support it deserves.’

Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-founder of the Eden Project

Join us for this exciting event, where Future Places writer in residence Karen Lloyd will be onstage with the judges and the winning writers.

FREE EVENT

THE NATURE CHRONICLES PRIZE

2021/22

A BRAND NEW NATURE WRITING AWARD; A GLOBAL BIENNIAL COMPETITION

Created in memory of Prudence Scott, a lifelong nature diarist who died in 2019; the award aims to find engaging and unique essay length works which share a commitment to truth telling and respond to the time we are in and the world as it is.

We’ll be hosting the award-ceremony in November 2022 when one writer will win £10,000! A further 5 shortlisted writers will receive £1000.

ENTRY CRITERIA

The competition is open to any work of non-fiction prose between 2,000 and 8,000 words long on a topic the writer considers to be contemporary nature writing.

It is for work originating in the English language.

Pieces will be judged anonymously and must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online. Essays, standalone extracts from unpublished books, and diaries may all be submitted.

The entry fee is £15 per submission, which will include a copy of the resulting anthology – in ebook form for non-UK entries.

Find out more information at www.naturechroniclesprize.com

1961 - 2021

Value Experience

PRESENTED BY

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

We are delighted that we will be welcoming authors of some of today’s most popular adventure stories for children to Kendal. These events are FREE on the YETI Stage in the Abbot Hall Basecamp.

NICOLA DAVIES THE PROMISE

AGE GROUP 6+ YEARS BUT SUITABLE FOR ALL 16.30 - 17.15 FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER

On a mean street in a mean city, a thief tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But she finds she can’t have it without promising something in return – to “plant them all”. When it turns out the bag is full of acorns, the young thief embarks on a journey that changes her own life and the lives of others for generations to come.

JACKIE MORRIS

EAST OF THE SUN WEST OF THE MOON & THE UNWINDING

AGE GROUP 8+ YEARS BUT SUITABLE FOR ALL 10.15 - 11.00 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

From the acclaimed illustrator of The Lost Words, Jackie will be talking about two of her books that incorporate her amazing gifts of storytelling and illustrations. An exploration of the magical mystical within nature and dreams.

LINDSEY COLE THE MERMAID AND THE COW

AGE GROUP 2 - 5 YEARS BUT SUITABLE FOR ALL 14.00 - 14.45 SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER

1 01/11/2021 08:00

When a mermaid goes on a quest in search of help to clean her river from plastic pollution, she makes an unlikely new friend - and helps solve another BIG problem. A fun adventure story about teamwork and the environment, by the mermaid who really did rescue a cow.

DOM CONLON

SHARK SWIM SHARK! LEAP, HARE, LEAP!

AGE GROUP 4 - 7 YEARS BUT SUITABLE FOR ALL 16.30 - 17.15 SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

Swim around the world with Shark as he explores ocean forests and coastal reefs, meeting Hammerheads and Great Whites, stingrays and dolphins in a search for the place he calls home.

Through Dom Conlon’s poetry and the eyes of a brown hare leaping away from an unknown danger, we learn what makes each species of hare unique and how they survive in their natural habitats.

PIXEL ART

10.00 - 16.00

SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER

Fun for all the family!

We’re celebrating the legacy of Alfred Wainwright MBE and the success of Olympian Climber Shauna Coxsey MBE. Join in and paint some squares to help us create two giant communal portraits.

All welcome, suitable for children aged 8 and up. FREE drop-in at Kendal Library.

This session is ran by Art Fly www.artfly.io

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE

ADVENTURE IN THE HIGH TREES

Travelling to all corners of the globe, gestalten titles lead you on an adventure, exploring beyond the horizon into a world of outdoor opportunity.

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE EVENTS

Treetop Trek KMF 2021.pdf

COLIN PRIOR THE KARAKORAM:

ICE MOUNTAINS OF PAKISTAN

OPEN ALL WEEKEND

A unique photographic record of the spectacular Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan, with more than 90 spellbinding duotone and colour images by celebrated landscape photographer Colin Prior. Having spent years documenting the range, Prior perfectly captures the magnificence of the Karakoram: the stunning rock formations, the swirling mists that envelop infinitely complex mountains and clustered peaks, and seemingly endless glaciers blanketed in pristine snow.

Located in the Brewery Arts Centre, this stunning exhibition will be open all Festival weekend.

MOVEMENT

A COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION BY THE CREATIVES OF FOLDED ZINE

12.00 - 17.00 ALL WEEKEND

‘Folded’ is a space to share, connect and uplift – created by and for young people in Kendal and the South Lakes. It was started out of a desire to create a collaborative and creative collective between young people in the South Lakes – an area rich with cultural importance, yet one that almost completely excludes young people. The idea behind Folded is to show the work of, and build a community of, writers, artists, actors, musicians and makers alike. We think it’s time the mic was passed to the creators of the rural north. This FREE exhibition will be open all Festival weekend at the Cross Lane Projects gallery: Cross Lane, Kendal LA9 5LB

FREE ENTRY

FESTIVAL BOOKSHOP

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. Perfect place for buying your Christmas presents.

There will be author book signings all weekend.

OPENING TIMES

Friday 19th November 9am - 6pm

Saturday 20th November 9am - 6pm

Sunday 21st November 10am - 5pm