Words by the Water Programme 2019

Words by the Water Festival of Words and Ideas Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

8–17 March 2019

wayswithwords.co.uk

Words of Welcome

T

he rule seems to be that in times of national uncertainty and distress, people turn more resolutely to the non-political complexities and enrichment of the Arts.

The multitude of Literary Festivals across the country are exceptionally well-placed to provide this sanctuary.

Words by the Water has now become established as a leading Literary Festival in the United Kingdom, and this year’s cast list is as glittering a galaxy as any we’ve had. As long as we’re not snowed in.

Best wishes Melvyn Bragg Festival President

page 2

I

t is hard to believe that a year has passed since Words by the Water last swung into town. We are delighted to be back in glorious Cumbria. The beautiful Theatre by the Lake is a wonderful venue and we have a packed programme of events, talks, comedy and workshops for 2019.

You will find much to do and think about and the next ten days promise to entertain, amuse, educate and stimulate. It is always a pleasure to be amongst like-minded folk with a sharp appetite for new ideas. I’m looking forward to discussing and debating – I hope you are too.

Leah Varnell Festival Curator & General Manager

W

elcome to Words by the Water. As a child I frequently holidayed in the Lake District with large family groups.

It was a quick journey from Lancashire where we all lived. Years later, after my ‘O’ levels, I came youth hostelling in Cumbria, with a friend. I remember sitting on a rock by Derwentwater reading Wordsworth poems. So I was keen to expand Ways With Words to the Lake District and enthusiastically accepted an invitation to start Words by the Water in 2001. What a good decision that was! Not only have people been keen to come to the festival and love the place and the event; they are very friendly and warm folk. We greatly enjoy our festival in Cumbria.

Kay Dunbar Festival Director

² wayswithwords ³ @Ways_With_Words µ wayswithwordsfestival Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

#wbtw2019 page 3

FRIDAY 8th MARCH

Kate Mosse

John Crace

Roger McGough

Kate Mosse

John Crace

Old Friends Become Enemies

1

2.30pm

| Main House

May You Live in Interesting Times £11.00

Kate Mosse, author of the internationally bestselling Languedoc trilogy, brings sixteenth century France vividly to life in her new novel. The first in a new series of historical novels spanning three hundred years of Huguenot history she explores love, betrayal, conspiracies and divided loyalties.

The Burning Chambers (Macmillan)

The World of Roger McGough 4.15pm

| Main House

£13.00

Roger McGough has many strings to his bow – performance poet, broadcaster, children’s author and playwright. He reads poems from his latest collection ‘Joined Up Writing’ which includes political poems, reflections on ageing and is laced with plenty of humour, irreverence and vivacity as always.

joinedupwriting (Penguin Books)

No day tickets applicable page 4

3

7.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

John Crace, author and political sketch writer for The Guardian observes the workings of the coalface in Westminster, responding to the clandestine, divisive and dramatic political landscape. Many things may yet have changed since the time of writing and John will provide insight on the current state of affairs.

I, Maybot: The Rise and Fall (Guardian Faber Publishing)

Roger McGough

2

Main House

FRIDAY 8th MARCH

© Maurice Boyer

Studio

Julia Blackburn

Jon Plowman

James Forrest

Jon Plowman

Man of the Mountains

4

2.15pm

| Studio

A Life in Comedy £10.00

Nicknamed the ‘Mountain Man’ by The Sunday Telegraph, James Forrest climbed all 446 mountains in England in Wales in just six months, and he did it all on his days off from work. He endured collapsing tents, horrific storms and nearfatal mountaineering mishaps. He explains why he took on the challenge and what he learnt along the way.

Mountain Man: 446 Mountains. Six Months.

One Record-Breaking Adventure (Bloomsbury)

6

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

After a 30-year career in the comedy industry, the multi award winning producer behind Absolutely Fabulous, The Office, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen, French and Saunders and Fry and Laurie tells the uncensored story of how TV comedy works, from the first germ of an idea to the after-party at the Emmys.

How to Produce Comedy Bronze (Blink Publishing)

Julia Blackburn

Searching for Doggerland

5

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

Doggerland once connected England to Holland and was home to giant elephants, rhinos and our ancestors, until it was submerged by the North Sea around 500 BC. Julia Blackburn explores the existence and loss of a place through mixing fragments from her own life with stories of the places she visits and people she meets in her search for Doggerland.

Time Song – Searching for Doggerland (Vintage) Day Ticket for Studio: £24 for three events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 5

SATURDAY 9th MARCH

Main House

Anthony Seldon

Isabel Hardman

Anthony Seldon

Salley Vickers

300 years of Downing Street

7

11.00am

| Main House

The Joy of Reading £11.00

The first British prime minister, Robert Walpole, was appointed in 1721. Between him and the current incumbent, there have been 52 PMs. Britain has undergone seismic changes in those 300 years. Is it still the same job that the Prime Minister does for us?

Contemporary historian and political author Anthony Seldon explores the changing role of the PM.

The Fourth Education Revolution (The University of Buckingham Press)

Isabel Hardman

Why Have we Lost Faith in Politicians?

15

12.45pm

| Main House

Sally Vickers

£10.00

Political commentator and assistant editor of The Spectator, Isabel Hardman dissects the question of why trust in politics and politicians is so low. She lifts the lid on the strange and demanding world of Westminster, and asks why we end up with representatives we no longer trust - and how might faith be restored?

9

2.30pm

| Main House

At a time when libraries are under constant threat of closure Salley Vickers’ latest novel ‘The Librarian’ is timely. The story charts the consequences of a young woman who takes up the position of a children’s librarian in a quaint market town.

The Librarian (Viking)

Melvyn Bragg Forever One

10

4.15pm

| Main House

£11.00

Broadcaster, author and parliamentarian, Melvyn Bragg recreates one of the most remarkable love stories in history; that of Heloise and Abelard. The 12th century blurs with modern experience in this classic love story retold for our times in this new work.

Love Without End: A Story of Heloise and Abelard (Sceptre)

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians (Atlantic)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including events 11 and 12) page 6

£11.00

SATURDAY 9th MARCH

Main House

Melvyn Bragg

Tim FitzHigham

Kamal Ahmed

Kamal Ahmed

Tim FitzHigham

Grounds for Optimism

11

6.00pm

| Main House

£11.00

Kamal Ahmed, editorial director of BBC News had a very ‘British’ childhood in every way – except for the fact that he was half English and half Sudanese.

Raised in 1970s London at a time when being mixed-race meant being told to go home, he now makes the case for a new conversation about race in Britain.

The Life and Times of a Very British Man (Bloomsbury)

An Evening with Tim FitzHigham: Conquering the Channel in a Piece of Plumbing

12

8.00-10.00pm

| Main House

£16.00

A multi-award-winning comedian and writer Tim FitzHigham tells the tale of the death-defying 200mile journey he undertook in his antique Thomas Crapper bath and how this resulted in meeting the Queen. (Includes interval)

All At Sea: One man. One bathtub. One Very Bad Idea (Preface Publishing)

Circle Gallery Karen Babayan

FE1

3.00pm

| Circle Gallery

£10.00

Diversity is not usually associated with the Lake District but artist Karen Babayan’s research reveals Arthur Ransome’s fictional Walker family as the Altounyans, a multilingual, multicultural family that lived contrasting lives in Aleppo, Syria and Coniston, Cumbria. At 4pm a free celebratory Armenian circle dance event will take place with dancer Shakeh Major Tchilingirian (weather permitting).

Swallows and Armenians (Wild Pansy Press) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

Karen Babayan

page 7

SATURDAY 9th MARCH

Studio

Politics and Change Mike Berners-Lee

What Can we do to Combat Climate Change?

13

10.45am

| Studio

£10.00

Expert in sustainability and climate change Mike Berners-Lee discusses our biggest environmental and economic challenges including energy, climate change, food, plastic pollution, antibiotics and biodiversity. He offers a realistic alternative to the destructive path the world is on at the moment .

There Is No Plan[et] B (Cambridge University Press)

Clare Rewcastle Brown 12.30pm

| Studio

£10.00

When Clare Rewcastle Brown began reporting on the destruction of Borneo’s rainforest, no one could have predicted it would bring down the Malaysian government. She recounts how she exposed a web of corruption involving international banks, companies and politicians – and argues that the dark side of globalisation must be fought.

The Sarawak Report (Lost World Press)

| Studio

Day Ticket: £40 for five events page 8

| Studio

£10.00

The Levellers, who were formed out of the explosive and tumultuous 1640s and the battlefields of the Civil War, became central figures in the history of democracy. Author, broadcaster and activist John Rees will reassert the revolutionary nature of the 1642–51 wars and the role of ordinary people in this pivotal moment in history.

The Leveller Revolution (Verso)

17 £11.00

Alistair Carr talks about his life as author, explorer and artist. In conversation with Tim FitzHigham, he recounts journeys with nomads in the Sahel and taiga, and how these travels led him into 21st century exploration and an ambitious attempt to protect the planet’s last great-unexplored rainforest.

The Nomad’s Path: Travels in the Sahel (I.B.Tauris)

4.00pm

Westminster Women

Creative Explorations 2.15pm

16

Rachel Reeves

Alistair Carr with Tim FitzHigham

8

Rachel Reeves

John Rees

Revolutionaries

Information is Light

14

Alistair Carr

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

Rachel Reeves, MP for Leeds West explores the significant role of women in British politics. She brings forgotten MPs out of the shadows and looks at the many battles fought by the Women of Westminster from 1919 to 2019. Assessing significant achievements, from the earliest suffrage campaigns to Barbara Castle’s fight for equal pay, Rachel Reeves brings to light the political work of women too often overlooked.

Women of Westminster (IB Tauris)

© Pippa Hart

© Mykel Nicolaou

SUNDAY 10th MARCH

Main House

Anna Pasternak

Peter Stanford

Anna Pasternak

Wallis Simpson: England’s Scapegoat

18

11.00am

| Main House

£11.00

Wallis Simpson is known as the woman at the centre of the most scandalous love affair of the 20th century. Bestselling biographer Anna Pasternak seeks to redeem a women wronged by history offering illuminating new information from those who were close to the couple.

Untitled: The Real Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (William Collins)

Peter Stanford Angelology

20

2.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

In a 2016 poll, one in ten Britons claimed to have experienced the presence of an angel. Author and journalist Peter Stanford explores our fascination with angels and examines their history and role in the great faiths. Could angels be a manifestation of divinity? Or part of the poetry of religion? What is the cultural significance of a religious idea in a secular, sceptical post-Christian world?

Angels: A Visible and Invisible History (Hodder & Stoughton)

Linda Blair

A Nation of Dog-Lovers

19

12.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

Dog ownership is associated with a huge number of physiological and psychological benefits.

However, because they’re so important to us, when either dog or owner is stressed, both will suffer.

That’s why everyone, four-legged family members as well as those with two legs, will benefit from learning how to attain a sense of calm, and override maladaptive patterns of behaviour with more constructive ones.

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including event 22) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

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SUNDAY 10th MARCH

Main House

John Lanchester

Alan Johnson

John Lanchester

Alan Johnson

Across the Divide

21

4.15pm

| Main House

Music of My Youth £11.00

Building walls on borders and societal divisions often dominate our news cycle in the contemporary world. Widely acclaimed author of ‘Capital’, John Lanchester, discusses his prophetic new work which explores the impact of walls designed to keep others out and asks at what price do we build barriers?

The Wall (Faber & Faber)

22

7.30pm

In My Life: A Music Memoir (Bantam Press)

Linda Blair

Beyond Mindfulness 3.00-5.30pm

| Circle Gallery

£16.00

Mindfulness, although a valuable way to help you feel calm and balanced, is really only the starting point if you want to enjoy a truly fulfilling life.

Psychologist Linda Blair will help you understand your personality traits, creative passions and intelligence profile and learn how to declutter and simplify your life.

The Key to Calm (Yellow Kite) page 10

£11.00

Former Home Secretary for the Labour Party and award-winning author Alan Johnson transports us to a world that is no longer with us – a world of Dansettes and jukeboxes, smoky coffee shops and dingy dance halls – adding a fourth dimension to the story of his life.

Circle Gallery

FE2

| Main House

Linda Blair

SUNDAY 10th MARCH

Studio

Historical Perspectives Simon Winder

In-Between Europe

25 Ferdinand Addis

Christopher Skaife

Why the Sky is Blue 10.45am

| Studio

£10.00

Former Head of the Science Museum Roland Jackson presents a portrait of John Tyndall, who was one of the foremost physicists and communicators of science in mid-Victorian Britain.

His discoveries included the physical basis of the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere and establishing why the sky is blue. A keen mountaineer, Tyndall was the first to traverse the Matterhorn and to ascend the Weisshorn.

The Ascent of John Tyndall (Oxford University Press)

Peter Moore

Endeavour: A Most Significant Ship

24

12.30pm

| Studio

| Studio

£10.00

Continuing his hilarious informative and personal exploration of European history author of ‘Germania’, Simon Winder, turns his attention to the history of in-between Europe and tells the story of Lotharingia a place between places. He retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.

Roland Jackson

23

2.15pm

£10.00

A Royal Navy research vessel with many lives, Endeavour famously carried James Cook on his voyage to the Pacific Islands. The ship was there at the Wilkes Riots in London and witnessed the bloody birth of the United States. According to Charles Darwin she helped Cook add a hemisphere to the civilised world. For some, Endeavour was a toxic symbol responsible for dispossession of societies. Peter Moore charts her remarkable story.

Endeavour: The Ship and Attitude that Changed the World (Chatto & Windus)

Lotharingia – A Personal History of Europe’s Lost Country (Picador)

Ferdinand Addis Eternal City

26

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

City of the Seven Hills, city of the artistic imagination, enduring symbol of our common European heritage – Rome has inspired and charmed empire-builders, dreamers, writers and travellers. Ferdinand Addis gives an illuminating account of the city associated with republicanism and dictatorship, Christian orthodoxy and its rivals, high art and low life in all its forms.

Rome: Eternal City (Head of Zeus)

Christopher Skaife Life with the Ravens

27

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

It is said that if the ravens leave the Tower of London it will crumble to dust and great harm will befall the kingdom. So Christopher Skaife’s role of Ravenmaster at the Tower is a responsible one.

The former Drum Major talks about life at the historic castle and shares his knowledge of these extraordinary birds who are ‘much given to mischief’.

The Ravenmaster (4th Estate)

Day Ticket: £40 for five events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 11

MONDAY 11th MARCH

© Juliana Johnston

Main House

Lynne Truss

Caroline Slocock

David Dwan

Lynne Truss

David Dwan

Massacre and Mystery

28

11.00am

| Main House

Doublethink: Orwell and… Brexit £11.00

On one fateful day in 1951, the majority of Brighton’s criminals were involved in a vicious battle that wiped out all but a select few. Lynne Truss explores the mysterious events following the ‘Middle Street Massacre’ with her characteristic laugh-out-loud humour.

A Shot in the Dark (Raven Books)

30

2.30pm

The name George Orwell has become part of the political vocabulary of our times and his works seem ever more pertinent in the post-truth era. David Dwan, Associate Professor in English at Hertford College, Oxford explores Orwell’s writings arguing that literature can be a source of political wisdom whatever the particular challenges of the age.

The Truth About the Iron Lady 12.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

Left-wing feminist and former private secretary to Margaret Thatcher, Caroline Slocock suggests it’s time to rewrite how we portray powerful women and accept that Margaret Thatcher was ‘one of us’.

Caroline takes a political and personal look at life inside Thatcher’s No. 10 during its dying days and reflects on women and power then and now.

People like us: Margaret Thatcher and Me (Biteback Publishing)

Day Ticket for Main House: £27 for three events (not including event 31) page 12

£11.00

Liberty, Equality and Humbug: Orwell’s Political Ideals (Oxford University Press)

Caroline Slocock

29

| Main House

MONDAY 11th MARCH

Main House

Michèle Mendelssohn

Michèle Mendelssohn

Oscar Wilde: Rarely Pure and Never Simple? (Talk and film)

31

5.00pm

| Main House

£16.00

Witty, inspiring, and charismatic, Oscar Wilde is one of the greats of English literature. Today, his plays and stories are beloved around the world. But it was not always so. Literary critic and cultural historian Michèle Mendelssohn charts Wilde’s tumultuous rise, fall and contemporary resurrection drawing on compelling new archives and rare documents to tell the story of Oscar Wilde’s life.

Making Oscar Wilde (Oxford University Press) FILM Wilde (Cert 15, running time 118 mins) 7.00pm Oscar Wilde returns from a successful 1882 lecture tour of America to wed Constance Lloyd. However realising that he is really attracted to men he embarks on an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, ‘Bosie’. Despite being the toast of the town and winning critical success with ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, Wilde’s homosexuality is set to land him in hot water.

Day Ticket for Main House: £27 for three events (not including event 31) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 13

MONDAY 11th MARCH

Wild Words

32

10.45am

2.15pm

| Studio

Cherry £10.00

Salt On Your Tongue (Canongate)

Lucy Bellamy

| Studio

| Studio

Brilliant and Wild (Pimpernel Press) Lucy Bellamy

35

4.00pm

| Studio

Cherry blossom or sakura, the national flower of Japan, represents the fragility and beauty of life. Naoko Abe examines the political and cultural heritage of the flowers and tells the story of Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram, a self-taught English botanist whose passion for Japanese cherry blossom saved the tai haku cherry (among others) from extinction. He re-introduced it to Japan in 1932 after taking cuttings from a specimen growing in his garden in Kent.

Cherry Ingram: The Englishman who Saved the Blossoms for Japan (Chatto & Windus)

£10.00

36

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

The Lake District is a place of rocks and rain, reason and romance, wonders and curiosity. David Howe considers this dramatic landscape. He reveals how half a billion years of shifting ice, violent volcanoes and falling rain have shaped it. He shows that the Lakeland is a seamless web where lives and landscapes weave together, where ancient countryside has created unique local history: of farming and mining and tight knit communities.

Rocks and Rain (Saraband) Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events

£10.00

The Character of Cumbria

March is the time for sowing seeds and planning gardens. Horticulturalist and editor of Gardens Illustrated, Lucy Bellamy unlocks the secret to new perennial planting with umbels, spires and bright button-like dots creating gardens full of flowers, birds and bees that are swift to establish and simple to upkeep.

page 14

£10.00

David Howe

A Community of Plants 12.30pm

34

Naoko Abe

The Daily Telegraph’s radio columnist and arts writer Charlotte Runcie explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. She walks on the beach with Turner, with Shakespeare, with the Romantic Poets and shanty-singers. She navigates through ancient Greek myths, poetry, shipwrecks and Scottish folktales and discusses how wild untameable waves can help us understand what it means to be human.

33

The Plight of the Curlew

Curlew Moon (William Collins)

Naoko Abe

Charlotte Runcie Ode to Oceans

Mary Colwell

Curlews, with their long curved bills and haunting songs, are Britain’s largest wading birds. Over the last 22 years the species has declined by 50% across England and Scotland. BBC Natural History Unit producer Mary Colwell walked 500 miles across Ireland and England to track these elusive birds. To ensure their survival, she challenges us to think and act differently.

© Jason Ingram

Lucy Bellamy

Studio

TUESDAY 12th MARCH

© Barry Jones

Main House

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Kenneth Baker

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Kenneth Baker

That Ruffian Thomas Cromwell

37

11.00am

| Main House

Sins and Sinners £11.00

38

12.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

Former Conservative MP Kenneth Baker explores how the Seven Deadly Sins have shaped history from the Greek and Roman civilisations, through their heyday in the middle ages, when sinners really believed they could go to hell for all eternity, to the secular world of today where they are still an alluring and destructive force.

Thomas Cromwell: A Life (Allen Lane)

On The Seven Deadly SIns (Unicorn)

© Phil John

Thomas Cromwell is one of the most famous, or notorious, figures in English history. For a time, the self-made ‘ruffian’ (as he described himself) was ruthless, adept in the exercise of power and a master of events. Diarmaid MacCulloch sets out Cromwell’s true place in the making of modern England and Ireland, for good and ill.

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including event 41) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 15

TUESDAY 12th MARCH

Main House

Sarah Churchwell

Marcus du Sautoy

Sarah Churchwell

Marcus du Sautoy

America’s Dream or America’s Nightmare

40

4.15pm

| Main House

£11.00

Artificial Intelligence and Art

41

7.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

Two of the most contentious phrases in the current American political playbook are: the ‘American Dream’ and ‘America first’. What do these phrases tell us about America’s idea of itself? Professor of American Literature and journalist, Sarah Churchwell, considers the consequences of a country in danger of losing touch with its own history.

Technology has always allowed us to extend our understanding of being human. Exploring the limits and potential of the new tools of Artificial Intelligence, scientist, broadcaster and author Marcus du Sautoy asks will AI allow us to create in different ways? Could recent developments in the technology mean that it is no longer just human beings that create art?

Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream (Bloomsbury)

Creativity Code (Fourth Estate)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including event 41) page 16

TUESDAY 12th MARCH

Studio

Life: Lessons and Adventures

Alan Brown

Christina Patterson

Alan Brown

Raynor Winn

Bike Packing Through the Heart of the Highlands

42

10.45am

|

Studio

£10.00

Seeking a temporary escape from city life Alan Brown, director of cycling charity Bike Station, cycles coast-to-coast through the wild interior of the Highlands. Armed with the essentials and camping under the stars, he discovers more about nature, history, people, his country, the concept of risk, and himself, than he thought possible.

Overlander (Saraband)

Picking Up Pieces 2.15pm

| Studio

Walking Forward

45

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

Raynor Winn was made bankrupt and lost her home just as her husband was diagnosed with a life limiting illness. With nowhere else to go the pair decided to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path wild camping as they went. She talks about the tests, encounters, the stigma of homelessness and the curative power of long distance walking.

The Salt Path (Atlantic Books)

Nicola Jackson, Emma McGordon, Steve Kendall, Nadine Aisha Jassat, Raheema Sayed and Andy Hopkins

Christina Patterson

44

Raynor Winn

£10.00

What do you do when you feel you’ve messed it all up and your friends seem to be doing just fine? Journalist Christina Patterson decided to abandon self-help books and talk to people about their losses and disappointments. She presents a moving, joyous and sometimes shockingly honest celebration of life as an adventure, one where you ditch your expectations, raise a glass and prepare for a rocky ride.

The Art of Not Falling Apart (Atlantic Books)

Off Track – A Poetry Platform

46

5.45pm

| Studio

Free

‘Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail’ (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Poetry is uniquely placed to lead us off the track and explore what is found. The poets reading in this session take a performance-based approach to give us a fresh and vibrant insight into their journeys. This event supports The Booktrust children’s literacy charity.

Day Ticket for Studio: £32 for four events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 17

WEDNESDAY 13th MARCH

Main House

Gina Rippon

Philip Walling

Gina Rippon

Oggy Boytchev

Mind the Gender Gap

47

11.00am

| Main House

Oggy Boytchev

Treason and Espionage £11.00

49

2.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

Reading maps or reading emotions? Do you have a female brain or a male brain? Drawing on her life’s work as a Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging, Gina Rippon unpacks the stereotypes that bombard us from our earliest moments and explores how centuries of sexism has led to science asking the wrong questions.

Journalist and independent producer, Oggy Boytchev was born in Bulgaria. He has travelled extensively and worked for many years as a producer for the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson. Boytchev’s novel draws on life behind the Iron Curtain and explores Cold War paranoia and intrigue in 1963.

The Gendered Brain (Bodley Head)

The Unbeliever (Quartet Books)

Philip Walling Bovine Tales

48

12.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

Till The Cows Come Home: The Story of Our Eternal Dependence (Atlantic Books)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including event 51) page 18

© Phil John

Philip Walling started out farming in Cumbria before turning to writing. Based on his roots in the land he draws on personal experience, interviews with farmers, butchers and breeders to explore how, for centuries, cattle have tilled our soils, borne our burdens, fed and clothed us and been uncomplaining servants in the work of wresting a living from the land.

WEDNESDAY 13th MARCH

© Robert Wilson

Main House

Julie Summers

Chris Bonington

Julie Summers

Chris Bonington

The Secret Life of Britain’s Country Houses 1939–45

50

4.15pm

|

Main House

£11.00

The dark days of the second world war saw thousands of Britain’s greatest country houses requisitioned for the housing of armed forces, secret services, children, the elderly and infirm. Social historian Julie Summers provides a glimpse of life in some of these monumental homes, as they opened their doors to spies, warriors and women.

Our Uninvited Guests: The Secret Life of

The Top of the Mountain

51

7.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

Having undertaken 19 Himalayan expeditions, including four to Mount Everest, mountaineer and explorer Chris Bonington will be in conversation with author and friend Julie Summers about what it takes to conquer fear, how to survive in the most inhospitable places on earth and overcome physical and emotional obstacles.

Ascent: A Life Spent Climbing on the Edge (Simon & Schuster)

Britain’s Country Houses (Simon & Schuster )

Circle Gallery Poetry Breakfast

FE3

10.15-11.30am

| Circle Gallery

£8.00

Poetry Breakfast. Coffee, croissants and poetry.

Bring a poem – one of your own or one you admire.

(Advance booking essential).

Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 19

WEDNESDAY 13th MARCH

Studio

Exploration and Travel Lalage Snow

In Search of Calm

52

10.45am

| Studio

£10.00

© Marc Sethi

Working in the world’s most dangerous war zones, correspondent and photographer Lalage Snow has documented gardens created in the midst of conflict.

From soldiers’ gardens in Camp Bastion to families tending plots in the middle of a surreal frozen war in Ukraine, she tells the stories of these gardens and the gardeners.

War Gardens (Quercus) Monisha Rajesh

Monisha Rajesh

Anthony Adeane

45,000 Miles by Train

53

12.30pm

| Studio

Anthony Adeane

An Icelandic Mystery £10.00

55

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

While Monisha Rajesh was circumnavigating the globe by train the world seemed “so much smaller, more manageable and connected than I had realised… no real beginnings or endings or boundaries”. The writer and broadcaster offers a vivid account of coasting along the world’s most remarkable railways; from the heights of Tibet’s Qinghai railway to silk sheeted splendour on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express.

In 1974 – a time when residents of Reykjavik weren’t allowed to keep dogs as pets, own lizards or watch TV on Thursdays, Gudmunder and Geirfinnur mysteriously disappeared. Through a detailed exploration of the stranger-than-fiction story that has unravelled across 45 years, Anthony Adeane paints a captivating picture of Iceland – its history, landscape, law and geopolitical importance.

Around the World in 80 trains (Bloomsbury)

Out of Thin Air (Quercus)

Damian Le Bas

Jonathan Lorie

A Journey Through Gypsy Britain

54

2.15pm

| Studio

£10.00

The Travel Writer’s Way

56

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

Born into a traditional Gypsy family Damian Le Bas takes a journey to discover the ‘atchin tans’ or stopping places known only to Travellers. Horse fairs, laybys and hidden Gypsy churches feature on his quest to better understand his identity and Romany history. Damian, who is an advisor to the Travellers Movement charity, gives a voice to a group of people whose way of life has been hidden and maligned.

Travel writing expert Jonathan Lorie shares a lifetime’s experience of how to turn your journeys into stories, whether for blogs, articles, books or just for fun. Drawing on lessons from his new writing handbook, ‘The Travel Writer’s Way’, and including advice from the world’s leading travel writers, Lorie presents a creative session suitable for all levels.

The Stopping Places (Chatto & Windus)

The Travel Writer’s Way (Bradt)

Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events page 20

Main House

THURSDAY 14th MARCH

Melissa Benn

A Radical Agenda

39

11.00am

| Main House

£11.00

Life Lessons: The Need for a National Education Service (Verso)

Irving Finkel

57

|

Main House

£11.00

Dr. Irving Finkel, Assyriologist for the British Museum, takes us back 3,000 years to a time when writing was rendered in the world’s oldest script.

Set against the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, he reveals a shocking narrative of violence, exorcism, man and magic, in which reality and horror entwine.

The Writing in the Stone (Medina Publishing Ltd)

58

Captain Corelli and Beyond (talk and film)

59

5.00pm

| Main House

£16.00

Prize winning author and poet Louis de Bernières returns to themes that have characterised his work for many years. The latest novel ‘So Much Life Left Over’ and collection of poetry ‘The Cat in the Treble Clef’ explore profound personal stories and human connections. He discusses his creative life and the different challenges of writing a novel and a poem.

The Cat in the Treble Clef (Harvill Secker)

From the White Cliffs to France

| Main House

Louis de Bernières

So Much Life Left Over (Harvill Secker)

Tom Gregory 2.30pm

Melissa Benn

Louis de Bernières

Unveiling a Vanished World 12.45pm

© Ivon Bartholomew

Journalist and writer Melissa Benn makes a timely and provocative plea for a National Education Service. She argues that our education system has been damaged by politicians who have arrogantly imposed a regime of market-driven reforms and that we need a more equitable education system to prevent stagnation and decline in our school system.

£11.00

On 6 September 1988, aged 11, William Hill sports writer of the year, Tom Gregory became the youngest person to swim the English Channel.

After training for five years in the London Docks, Lake Windermere and the open sea at Dover he learnt to withstand physical and mental extremes.

Astonishingly he completed the 32 mile swim in 11 hours and 54 minutes.

A Boy in the Water (Particular Books)

FILM Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (Cert 15, running time: 124 mins)

7.00pm

Hollywood adaptation of Louis de Bernières’ novel set on the Italian-occupied Greek island of Cephalonia during the 1940s.

Opera-loving mandolin player Captain Corelli (Nicolas Cage) finds the population resentful when he first arrives on the island. But soon his involvement with local beauty Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) helps him form a bond with the local community and he starts to question his own involvement in the war.

No day tickets applicable Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 21

THURSDAY 14th MARCH

Studio

Bookcase Day

David Woodthorpe

Michael Mullett

David Woodthorpe

Stephen Matthews

A Wander to Wonder

60

10.45am

| Studio

Climbing Skiddaw £10.00

David describes in detail a walk from Grange through the farms and fields of the beautiful Borrowdale Valley. The talk will be illustrated with photographs of the daily life and magnificent scenery of the valley.

Michael Mullett

Penrith in the Eighteenth Century

61

12.30pm

| Studio

£10.00

The fourth volume of Michael Mullett’s authoritative history of Penrith examines the town’s rich history in the eighteenth century including the last battle on English soil when the Jacobites were defeated at Clifton Moor. The eighteenth century was a time of growth and prosperity, as the town became the focus for a thriving agricultural region.

Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events page 22

62

2.15pm

| Studio

£10.00

For Charles and Mary Lamb, climbing Skiddaw was a form of therapy. For Coleridge it was a visionary experience. William Hutchinson was excited and appalled when he was caught in a thunderstorm.

Climbing Skiddaw provided a dramatic but very varied experience for a wide range of people from Ann Radcliffe to John Ruskin.

THURSDAY 14th MARCH

Studio

Stephen Matthews

David Crackenthorpe

The Life of Lord Brougham

63

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

Lord Brougham was one of the most dynamic statesmen of the nineteenth century. An energetic polymath, he was a key figure in the reform of the law and education and in the anti-slavery movement. His family home was at Brougham Hall near Penrith. David Crackanthorpe explores Lord Brougham’s life and his connections with his home county.

Jane Platt

Making Their Mark

64

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

Jane Platt discusses her pioneering study of literacy among the working people of Carlisle and Cumberland in the nineteenth century. How and why the poor learned to read and write opens a fascinating window on the social life of the times.

Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 23

FRIDAY 15th MARCH

Julian Baggini

John Simpson

Amber Massie-Blomfield

Treading the Boards: Extraordinary Theatres

65

11.00am

|

Main House

© Simon Weller

© Richard H. Smith

© Rosie Powell

Amber Massie-Blomfield

Main House

£11.00

John Simpson Friend or Foe

67

2.30pm

| Main House

BBC World Affairs Editor for more than half his 52 year career, John Simpson has reported on major events all over the world. As a man who has seen many a real life intrigue unfold in the halls of power he explores the realm of murky Russian plots, conspiracies, assassinations in his latest work.

Theatres provide entertainment but often have unusual histories with their own story to tell. From Theatre by the Lake, a Victorian gentleman’s toilet and even a theatre that isn’t a theatre at all, Amber Massie-Blomfield will lead you on a cultural journey around the UK’s most fascinating playing spaces.

Moscow Midnight (John Murray)

Twenty Theatres To See Before You Die (Penned in the Margins)

Sponsored by

Raymond Tallis

Julian Baggini

Making Sense of the World

66

12.45pm

| Main House

The Philosopher’s Map £11.00

Philosopher, poet, novelist, cultural critic and clinical neuroscientist, Raymond Tallis, steps into the gap between mind and world, and grapples with Einstein’s idea that “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”

Logos (Agenda Publishing)

£11.00

68

4.15pm

| Main House

£11.00

One of the great mysteries of human history is that written philosophy flowered entirely separately in China, India and Ancient Greece at more or less the same time. Philosopher and author Julian Baggini explores some of the philosophies of the world offering insights into commonalities and differences in how we think.

How The World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy (Granta Books) Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including events 69 and 70) page 24

FRIDAY 15th MARCH

Main House

Robert Portal

Robin Ince

Dear Lupin: Letters to a Wayward Son

Robin Ince

Laugh at Your Punch Line

Read by actors Jeremy Child and Robert Portal

69

6.00pm

| Main House

70 £11.00

Over many years former racing correspondent for The Sunday Times Roger Mortimer wrote letters to his errant son Charlie. Every parent will relate to the often despairing note in them and delight in the affection and dogged perseverance of Roger’s efforts to galvanise his son into some kind of productive occupation. At turns humorous and touching the letters tell a moving story between father and son.

7.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

Comedian Robin Ince uses his lifetime of standup as way of exploring some of the biggest questions we all face. Offering personal insights and interviews with the world’s top comedians, neuroscientists and psychologists he makes a hilarious and powerful call to embrace our inner experience – no matter how odd that may prove to be.

I’m A Joke and So Are You (Atlantic Books)

Dear Lupin: Letters to a Wayward Son (Constable)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including events 69 and 70) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 25

FRIDAY 15th MARCH

Studio

Art, Imagination and Culture Mike Thornton

The Norman Cornish Sketchbooks 10.45am

| Studio

£10.00

Celebrated mining painter Norman Cornish from Co Durham worked in the pits from an early age. He also learnt to paint at The Pitman’s Academy. When he died the artist left 269 sketchbooks behind in his studio. His wish for his sketchbooks was that ‘they should have a life of their own… and teach people to look at things.’ His son-in-law Mike Thornton reveals stories behind the artist’s iconic works.

Behind the Scenes: The Norman Cornish Sketchbooks (Norman Cornish Ltd)

| Studio

74 £10.00

Who hasn’t heard of ‘God is dead’ or ‘That which does not kill us makes us stronger’? Friedrich Nietzsche’s work underpins contemporary thought yet misunderstanding surrounds the philosopher.

Sue Prideaux illuminates Nietzsche’s extraordinary life – his relationship with Wagner, familial relationships, charges of anti-Semitism, mental illness, women and his place in 20th century thought.

I am Dynamite (Faber & Faber)

| Studio

£10.00

Labyrinths are as old as humanity, the proving grounds of heroes, the paths of pilgrims, symbols of spiritual rebirth and pleasure gardens. Step inside the world of mazes with Henry Eliot who explores the history and psychology of these strange seductive spaces and tells the story of his quest for the Maze King.

Follow This Thread (Particular Books) Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events page 26

| Studio

£10.00

2019 marks 200 years since the birth of John Ruskin, the greatest critic of his age – a critic not only of art and architecture but of society and life.

Art historian Suzanne Fagence Cooper uncovers the dizzying beauty and clarity of his holistic vision.

What can Ruskin teach us now about seeing the world around us clearly and gloriously?

To See Clearly. Why Ruskin Matters (Quercus)

Ed Vulliamy

75

The Art of Getting Lost 2.15pm

4.00pm

The Power of Music

Henry Eliot

73

Henry Eliot

See Better: The Works of John Ruskin

Friedrich Nietzsche – a Brilliant, Eccentric Life 12.30pm

Sue Prideaux

Suzanne Fagence Cooper

Sue Prideaux

72

© Douglas Fry

71

5.45pm

| Studio

£10.00

Ed Vulliamy reflects on his life as a war correspondent travelling the world to witness historical events, meeting the people involved, hearing their stories and listening to music. He explores the power of music and how it can reveal truths when words fail.

When Words Fail (Granta)

© Jack Hill

© Sue Greenhill

SATURDAY WEDNESDAY 16th 10th MARCH JULY

Great House Main Hall

John Guy

Philip Collins

Julia Fox

John Guy

Julia Fox

Mary Stuart: Political Pawn, Manipulative Siren or Shrewd and Charismatic Queen?

76

11.00am

| Main House

Women and Power

78 £11.00

The life of Mary Stuart is one of unparalleled drama and conflict. Historian and author John Guy returns to the archives to explode the myths and correct the inaccuracies that surround this most fascinating monarch and offers an alternative interpretation of the life of Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots (4th Estate)

| Main House

| Main House

£11.00

Powerful women are often dismissed as agents of scandal and seduction. Historian, Julia Fox, offers insights into the lives of two queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile and reveals them as flesh-and-blood women who were equipped with character, intelligence and conviction in an age when the greatest sin was to be born a woman.

Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana Queen of Castile (W&N)

Raising a Torch Against the Darkness

Political Reboot 12.45pm

2.30pm

Horatio Clare

Philip Collins

77

Horatio Clare

£11.00

Drawing on lessons from history Times columnist and political speech writer Philip Collins, proposes new answers to today’s most urgent questions around education, work, health, housing and nationhood. He argues for the need for a discourse of hope for those who have been left politically homeless and feels that politics and politicians no longer speak for them.

Start Again: How We Can Fix Our Broken Politics (4th Estate)

79

4.15pm

| Main House

£11.00

Seasonal sadness and winter blues are feelings not uncommon in the darker months. Horatio Clare argues that by observing nature we can appreciate the beauty of all seasonal rhythms and celebrates the powerful hold that the winter has on us by delving into the memories and myths that makes the winter months magical.

Light in the Dark:A Winter Journal (Elliott & Thompson)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including events 80 and 81) Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 27

SATURDAY 16th MARCH

Main House

Prue Leith

Polly Toynbee and David Walker

Prue Leith

Polly Toynbee and David Walker

Stay Calm and Bake Off

80

6.00pm

| Main House

£11.00

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith draws on a life-long passion for food and celebrates the meals we all want to make at home. Prue gives a sneak peek into her own cooking and insights into the life of one of the nation’s best-loved cooks.

Prue: My All-time Favourite Recipes (Bluebird)

Where Are We Now?

81

7.45pm

| Main House

£11.00

To say that we live in uncertain times is something of an understatement with the political landscape changing and reforming at a breath-taking pace.

Polly Toynbee and David Walker have been political commentators and journalists for The Guardian for many years and aim to unpick some of the recent changes to our country, our society and our political environment.

Dismembered: How the Consevative Attack on the State Harms Us All (Guardian Faber Publishing) Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events (not including events 80 and 81)

Circle Gallery

Angela Locke

Landscape and Imagination Workshop

FE4

3.00-5.00pm

| Circle Gallery

£16.00

How can landscape inspire writing? How can we evoke it, recreate it and bring it freshly onto the page? In the home of the Romantics, who used the dramatic backdrop of Cumberland and Westmorland in so much of their work, writer and poet Angela Locke encourages participants to look afresh at their surroundings.

page 28

SATURDAY 16th MARCH

Studio

Exploration Science of Mind andand Travel Body

Adam Feinstein Lalage Snow & Michael Baron

Autism: TwoofDads, Two Voyages of Discovery In Search Calm 10.45am 10.45am

Studio | Studio

£10.00 £10.00

Two fathers ofworld’s autisticmost sonsdangerous discuss their Working in the warpersonal zones, experiences.

They reveal the intriguing of correspondent and photographer Lalage history Snow has autism and debate recent evidence suggesting documented gardens created in the midst of conflict. that Hans Asperger with the Nazis in From soldiers’ gardens collaborated in Camp Bastion to families tending Austria in the 1940s.

Michael Baron one ofshe the plots in the middle of a surreal frozen warwas in Ukraine, founders of Britain’s National Autistic Society and tells the stories of these gardens and the gardeners.

Adam Feinstein is an internationally recognised Gardens (Quercus)

Warresearcher autism and historian and author.

Autism Works – A Guide to Successful

Monisha Rajesh Employment Across the Entire Spectrum (Routledge) 45,000 Miles by Train

Duncan Minshull

56 83

| 12.30pm | Studio

12.30pm Studio Words on Walking

£10.00

While Monisha Rajesh was circumnavigating £10.00 the globe by train the world seemed “so much smaller, more manageable and connected Duncan Minshull is a radio producer and a writerthan on Iwalking. had realised… real beginnings endings or His latestno publication ‘BeneathorMy Feet’ presents boundaries”.

Theessays writeron and broadcaster offers a series of classic why, how and where wea vivid accountfrom of coasting along thecentury world’stomost walk, ranging Petrarch in the 13th remarkable railways; from the Rebecca Solnit in the present day.heights Drawingof onTibet’s a number Qinghai railway to silk sheeted onhow the of these writer-walker types he willsplendour be discussing Venice Simplon-OrientExpress. such a simple activity is really rather good for us. ‘It is

the World 80 trains solved by walking’ , a wisein person once(Bloomsbury) said.

Around

Beneath My Feet (Notting Hill Editions)

Damian Le Bas Gavin Francis A Journey Through Gypsy Britain Transformations

57 84

2.15pm 2.15pm

|| Studio Studio

£10.00 £10.00

Born into a traditional Gypsy family Damian le Bas takes a journey discover the atchin tans or GP and writer Gavin to Francis explores change in the stopping places onlyto tohealth Travellers.

Horse fairs, human body andknown its relation and disease. laybys and hidden Gypsy churches featureinon his He considers transformations that happen different quest to better understand his identity Romany contexts, from ageing, through anorexia,and transgender history. who is an advisor toon theart, Travellers journeysDamian, and plastic surgery.

Drawing history, Movement charity, voice to a group ofthe people literature and magicgives GavinaFrancis shows how whose way ofoflife has been hidden and maligned. very essence being human is change.

Stopping Places & Windus) Shapeshifters (Profile,(Chatto Wellcome Collection) The

Day Ticket for Studio: £40 for five events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

© Marc Sethi

82 55

Monisha Rajesh Gavin Francis

Jonathan Lorie Rose George

Rose George Simply Red

85

|

Anthony Adeane 4.00pm Studio

An Icelandic Mystery

£10.00

Rose George visits a leech farm in Wales; meets girls challenging taboos surrounding menstruation 4.00pm Studio £10.00 in Nepal and celebrates the woman who set up the world’s blood banks in WorldofWar II. Charging In 1974 –first a time when residents Reykjavik weren’t down ‘unexpected avenues ofown medical history and allowed to keep dogs as pets, lizards or watch global injustice’ Rose George reveals the richness TV on Thursdays, Gudmunder and Geirfinnur and wonder of the potent red fluid that courses mysteriously disappeared.

Through a detailed around our bodies, unseen but miraculous. exploration of the stranger-than-fiction story that

58

|

Nine Pints (Particular Books)Anthony Adeane has across 45 years unravelled paints a captivating picture of Iceland – its history, landscape, law and geopolitical importance.

Josh Cohen

Out of Thin Air (Quercus)

We Have to Stop

86

|

Jonathan Lorie 5.45pm Studio

The Travel Writer’s Way

£10.00

We live in a culture that demonizes idleness. A permanent5.45pm busyness pervades Studio even our quietest £10.00 moments and work, connectivity and a constant flow of information are theJonathan cultural norms.

Travel writing expert Lorie While sharesinactivity a can induceexperience lethargy it is condition of imaginative lifetime’s ofalso howa to turn your journeys freedom andwhether creativity.for Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen into stories, blogs, articles, books explores apathy, how inactivity worksfrom and how it can or just for fun. Drawing on lessons his new be a necessary creative for a life worth writing handbook, Thecondition Travel Writer’s Way, andliving.

59

|

(Granta) including advice from the world’s leading travel Not Working writers, Lorie presents a creative session suitable for all levels.

The Travel Writer’s Way (Bradt)

page 29

SUNDAY 17th MARCH

© Nicola Pallitt

Main House

Susan Blackmore

Adam Hart Davis

Ian Strathcarron

Adam Hart-Davis

The Perils of Publishing

87

11.00am

| Main House

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

An Absurdly Ingenious World £11.00

89

2.30pm

| Main House

£11.00

Chair of the Unicorn Publishing Group, Ian Strathcarron, presents a wry look at behind the scenes of the publishing world and offers an A-Z of shame in the world of book publishing. How do you pick a winning book from a losing one? Why are long, liquid and libellous lunches central to a publishers endeavour?

The definition of ‘Heath Robinson’ in the Oxford English Dictionary is ‘any absurdly ingenious and impracticable device’. Presenter Adam Hart-Davis, a long-standing Heath Robinson fan, considers the Edwardian artist’s work in its social and technological context and tells the stories behind his homespun mechanical fantasies.

Confessions of a Publisher (Unicorn Press)

Very Heath Robinson: Stories Of His Absurdly Ingenious World (Sheldrake Press)

Susan Blackmore

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

Science’s Last Great Mystery

88

12.45pm

|

Main House

£11.00

Psychologist Susan Blackmore tackles how the physical matter of the brain produces the psychological phenomenon of consciousness.

She asks ‘Do we really have a free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? How can a physical brain create our experience of the world?

A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness (OUP)

Day Ticket for Main House: £36 for four events page 30

Robert Graves and Conflict

90

4.15pm

| Main House

£11.00

Celebrated biographer, Jean Moorcroft Wilson, explores the life of the writer and war poet Robert Graves: his experiences in the war, being left for dead at the Battle of the Somme, his leap from a third-floor window after his lover Laura Riding’s even more dramatic jump from the fourth-floor, his move to Spain and his final ‘goodbye’ to ‘all that’.

Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Goodbye To All That (Bloomsbury)

SUNDAY THURSDAY 17th 11th MARCH JULY

Great Hall Studio

Family Day

Kate Clanchy

Martin Brown

Kate Clanchy School Days

91

10.45am

| Studio

Jon Copley

Ask an Ocean Explorer £10.00

Kate Clanchy has taught in state schools for nearly 30 years. She is also a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. By telling stories of some of the kids she’s taught, as well her own, Kate Clanchy offers a candid, funny and moving insight into life in British schools today.

Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me (Picador)

Jonny Benjamin 12.30pm

| Studio

2.15pm

| Studio

£10.00

How deep do sharks swim? Have more people been into space than the deep ocean? And what effect are we having on the health of our seas? Jon Copley, marine biologist and advisor for the BBC’s Blue Planet II answers these questions and more.

Combining untold history of ocean exploration and personal account of what it’s like to dive in a mini submarine Jon Copley will bring to light the weird and wonderful deep sea environment and how its health is connected to our everyday lives.

Ask an Ocean Explorer (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Kindness of a Stranger

43

93

£10.00

When Jonny Benjamin stood on Waterloo Bridge about to jump, a stranger saw his distress and stopped to talk. Not only was Jonny’s life saved, this was the start of his campaigning around mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Later he launched an online campaign to find the stranger. He explains what happened next.

The Stranger On the Bridge (Bluebird)

Martin Brown

Horrible Histories, Doodles and Drawings

94

4.00pm

| Studio

£10.00

Sharpen your pencils and celebrate ‘Horrible Histories’ and ‘Lesser Spotted Animals’ with illustrator and cartoonist Martin Brown. His passion for ‘drawing his doodles and little figures’ is infectious and in a talk, peppered with jovial jokes, awesome anecdotes and live drawing, he brings his imaginary worlds to life.

Terrible Trenches Field Book (Scholastic); Martin Brown’s Lesser Spotted Animals (David Fickling Books)

Day Ticket for Studio: £32 for four events Book tickets online at theatrebythelake.com

page 31

Thank you to ...

The Advisory Group

Our venue hosts:

Support in kind:

Members ... Words by the Water staff ... Theatre by the Lake Staff ... Festival Chairpersons ... Bookends ... the volunteers ... the Publishers ... and of course, the Writers. page 32

Financial Support: Book online, by phone or in person – see page 34 for full details

We are pleased to be supporting Words by the Water and look forward to seeing you at the Festival Bookshop, Theatre by the Lake

Bursaries to Words by the Water If you are between the ages of 17–24 you may be eligible to attend events at this year’s festival free of charge. Email for details: admin@wayswithwords.co.uk We also welcome you to our shops Bookends 66 Main Street Keswick CA12 5DX Tel 017687 75277 Bookends, Bookcase and Cakes & Ale Café 17–19 Castle Street Carlisle CA3 8SY Tel 01228 544560

Full details on our cancellations, refunds, exchanges and lost tickets policy at wayswithwords.co.uk

page 33

Booking & Other Information PLEASE NOTE: TICKETS ARE NOT FOR SALE FROM WAYS WITH WORDS

In Person

Priority Booking

Visit the Box Office at Theatre by the Lake

Friends of Ways With Words and Theatre by the Lake can book tickets from Thursday 17 January 2019.

Open on performance nights and from 9.30am–6.30pm at other times.

Online

General booking starts on Thursday 24 January 2019.

Book online at www.theatrebythelake.com

Festival Passes

By Phone

Festival Pass ‘A’ at £160 gives entry to all Main House events on Friday 8–Tuesday 12 March inclusive.

Call 017687 74411

Payment Methods Cash, credit or debit cards (Mastercard/ Visa/ Switch/Delta/Electron/Maestro) are accepted or cheques made payable to Theatre by the Lake.

Ticket Delivery Tickets booked up to seven days in advance will be posted out for a charge of 70p. Tickets booked within seven days of the performance date will be held for collection from the Box Office.

Reservations Tickets which have not been paid for within five days of reservation (or for late bookers one hour before the performance) will be offered for re-sale.

Refund and Exchange Policy If you inform the Box Office at least 48 hours before an event, we will be happy to exchange your tickets for another Words By The Water 2019 event (subject to availability) or hold a credit for you against a future booking. There is a £1.00 fee per ticket for this service (with a maximum charge of £10 per transaction).

If an event is cancelled you can exchange your ticket for another event at the festival – subject to availability – or for a voucher which you can use at any Ways With Words event in the future.There will be no charge for this.

If you don’t wish to exchange you are entitled to a refund of the ticket’s value. (NB this will be a proportion of the value if you bought a day ticket.

We do not refund people who hold Festival Passes).

page 34

Festival Pass ‘B’ at £160 gives entry to all Main House events on Wednesday 13–Sunday 17 March inclusive.

Passes can be collected from Theatre by the Lake at the start of the festival.

Group Bookings Please contact the box office by phone for details and reservations.

Young Person Standby Tickets People aged 24 and under can buy tickets normally priced at £11 or £10 for just £5 if purchased 24 hours or less before the event’s start time. Proof of age will be required when you collect your tickets.

Getting to the Theatre To locate the theatre and find out about car parking and transport links please go to the theatre’s website: www.theatrebythelake.com/location The address of the theatre is: Theatre by the Lake Lakeside Keswick Cumbria C A12 5DJ

As well as running the Words by the Water festival Ways With Words organises these popular events ...

A writing, painting and Italian language and culture holiday courses in Umbria, Italy 21–28 September 2019 28 September–5 October 2019

A summer festival at Dartington Hall in South Devon 5–15 July 2019

An autumn festival in Southwold on the Suffolk coast 7–11 November 2019

And back in Cumbria for Words by the Water 2020 6–15 March 2020 Full details on ouron cancellations, exchanges and lostvisit tickets policy at wayswithwords.co.uk page 35 For details all ourrefunds, events please www.wayswithwords.co.uk

Words by the Water 2019 Including: Kamal Ahmed Kenneth Baker Julian Baggini Louis de Bernières Julia Blackburn Susan Blackmore Chris Bonington Melvyn Bragg Sarah Churchwell Horatio Clare Philip Collins John Crace Irving Finkel Tim FitzHigham Isabel Hardman Adam Hart Davis Robin Ince Alan Johnson John Lanchester Prue Leith Diarmaid MacCulloch Roger McGough Kate Mosse Anna Pasternak Marcus du Sautoy John Simpson Peter Stanford Julie Summers Raymond Tallis Polly Toynbee & David Walker Lynne Truss Salley Vickers ‌and many more

wayswithwords.co.uk