Words
by the Water
A Festival of Words and Ideas
6 – 15 March 2015
Theatre by the Lake
Keswick
WELCOME
to Words by the Water
What is so enjoyable about literature
festivals is the unrehearsed, live nature
of the events. Anything can happen
and it often does. No-one knows what
a writer will say, how everyone will
react, what questions will come from
the audience. We are all on tip-toe.
We are comfortable because the
atmosphere is supportive, warm
and friendly and the speakers are
impressed by the intelligent, generous
responses of the people listening. But
it is unsettling too because there are
often surprises.
Come and balance on your toes with
us at this year’s Words by the Water.
You will be in for many surprises as
well as treats.
Festival Directors:
Kay Dunbar, Stephen Bristow,
Chloë Bar-Kar and Videl Bar-Kar
Melvyn Bragg,
Words by the Water’s
President
The Words by the Water Festival
of Words and Ideas continues its
irresistible surge forward. “Beside the
lake, beneath the trees”, that’s the
location and we who turn up to talk
and listen hope to be “fluttering and
dancing in the breeze”.
The breeze is the warmth of interest
and welcome that all writers receive
in Keswick. And, like Shakespeare’s
actors at The Globe, we try to please,
though for some of us, fluttering is
quite an effort these days. And dancing
is only a fond memory.
Good luck at what has become a
jewel in the new landscape of Literary
Festivals in the United Kingdom.
Friday 6 March – Main House
Alan Johnson
2pm
Main House
£9
3.45pm
Main House
£9
Michael Frayn
Alan Johnson
The Sequel
By the age of 18 Alan Johnson was
married, a father, and working
as a postman in Slough. ‘Please,
Mr. Postman’, the sequel to his
bestselling memoir, ‘This Boy’,
describes the next period in his life
with every bit as much honesty,
humour and emotional impact as
his bestselling debut. ‘Please, Mr
Postman’ paints a vivid picture of
Britain in the 1970s and reveals
another fascinating chapter in the
life of one of our best-loved public
figures.
Michael Frayn
Theatre of the Imagination
Snatches of people talking to each
other, to the world at large, to
themselves, to no one: Michael
Frayn’s 30 miniature sketches are
meant to be played in the smallest
theatre in the world - one’s own
imagination. They are comic
masterpieces from one of the
country’s favourite writers.
Christopher Frayling
5.30pm
Main House
£9
sponsored by
7pm
Main House
£9
Åsne Seierstad
Christopher Frayling
Chinaphobia
China is poised to become the
superpower of the 21st century
but, probably because of the
stereotypical image of the Chinese,
this is often considered a threat
rather than an achievement. Sir
Christopher Frayling, a wideranging cultural historian, previous
Chairman of the Arts Council,
examines Chinaphobia.
Åsne Seierstad
Massacres in Norway
Åsne Seierstad, author of ‘The
Bookseller of Kabul’ and awardwinning foreign correspondent,
talks about her new book, ‘One of
Us’, about the terrible massacre
in her home country of Norway
in 2011. Anders Breivik killed 77
of his fellow Norwegians, most of
them teenagers, shooting one a
minute.
Main House Day Ticket - £28 for 4 events (not including 8.30pm event)
Friday 6 March – Studio
3.30pm
Studio
£8
sponsored by
Matthew Hyde and Esmé Whittaker
8.30pm
Main House
£9
Val Corbett,
Matthew Hyde and
Esmé Whittaker
Arts and Crafts Houses
in the Lake District
The Arts and Crafts houses of the
Lake District were mostly built
as holiday homes for wealthy,
Northern industrialists and
embraced informality and simplicity.
The authors explore the lifestyle
of the clients, who travelled to
enjoy the pleasures of boating
and the outdoor way of life. This
informative talk is illustrated by Val
Corbett’s magnificent photographs.
5pm
Studio
£8
Peter Marsh
Industry:
Past, Present and Future
In a thrilling display of ingenuity,
the world’s factories every year
produce 10bn types of products
from a limited stock of materials.
Now manufacturing is undergoing
a revolution from which Britain,
unexpectedly, is poised to benefit.
Peter Marsh tells the fascinating
story of industrial change, from the
Iron Age to the biochip.
Mary Robinson and
Horatio Lawson
Out of Time –
Pictures and Poems;
an introduction to the exhibition
in the Friends’ Gallery
Take a moment “out of time” for
this cross-border collaboration.
Listen to Cumbrian poet Mary
Robinson reading her poems
alongside Scottish photographer
Horatio Lawson’s images.
6.30pm
Studio
£8
Blake Morrison
Wild – A Poetry Reading
Blake Morrison’s new volume of
poetry is called ‘Shingle Street’ and
some of the poems are inspired
by the wildest parts of Suffolk.
Yet these poems and the rest of
the volume also recall childhood,
parents, love and friends. His
reading will inspire the audience
to delve into their memories of
people and places.
Saturday 7 March – Main House
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Melvyn Bragg
11am 12.15pm
Main House
£4 adults,
students free
(ticket
required)
Cate Haste
Craigie Aitchison:
His Life and Art
Cate Haste has written political
biography (‘The Goldfish Bowl:
Married to the Prime Minister’
– with Cherie Blair; a memoir of
Clarissa Eden and ‘Nazi Women’).
She won the Lakeland Book of
the Year Award for her illustrated
book on the artist Sheila Fell.
Now she has tackled the life of the
Scottish artist Craigie Aitchison.
His poetic use of vibrant colour, his
interest in shape and design and his
fascination with Tuscan icons have
made him one of the most popular
contemporary artists.
Cate Haste
Cumbria Young
Writers’ Award
Introduced by Melvyn Bragg
Excerpts from short stories,
monologues and poems, drawn
from hundreds of entries, are
performed by actors in this annual
celebration of the talent of young
Cumbrians.
Arts and Crafts in Keswick –
A Guided Walk
Crosthwaite Church © Val Corbett
11am – 1.30pm
Meet outside Theatre by the Lake
£24 (to include entry into Keswick Museum)
Join historian Matthew Hyde, Dr Esmé
Whittaker and photographer, Val
Corbett for a walking tour of Keswick
exploring the inspiration behind their
book, ‘Arts and Crafts Houses in the
Lake District.’ This tour will show how
the Arts and Crafts style in architecture,
stained glass and metalwork, is all
around. The authors will give a unique
insight into the people behind the local
movement and the beautiful crafts they
produced. The walk will go ahead in wet
weather as three locations are indoors.
Length – 3.1 miles, all on footpaths.
Main House Day Ticket - £24 for 4 events (not including Guided Walk or 6pm event)
Linda Blair
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Claire Tomalin
Melvyn Bragg
and John Shapcott
Cumbrian Novels
John Shapcott discusses Melvyn
Bragg’s Cumbrian novels with
him. A witty, lively conversation
stimulated by John Shapcott’s book,
‘Grains of Sand: Melvyn Bragg’s
Cumbrian Novels’.
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Linda Blair
Mindfulness
Linda Blair, Associate Fellow of
the British Psychological Society,
offers a five-step programme
for managing stress and anxiety
and cultivating calm. Her path to
mindfulness is clear, practical and
simple, and designed to promote
balance, purpose and tranquility.
6pm
Main House
£14
(talk and
film)
Claire Tomalin
Nelly Ternan –
The Invisible Woman
At the height of his career Charles
Dickens met a young aspiring
actress, Nelly Ternan, who became
his mistress, with cataclysmic
consequences for them both.
Claire Tomalin is the prize-winning
biographer of, amongst others,
Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy,
Samuel Pepys and Jane Austen.
At 7pm there will be a 45 minute
break.
7.45pm Film:
“The Invisible Woman” (12A)
Saturday 7 March – Studio – Science of the Mind
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Michael Trimble
Why We Like to Cry
From classic Greek tragedies to the
death of Bambi’s mother the appeal
of weepie films, tear-jerking novels
and moving music appears to be
timeless. Michael Trimble discusses
why we are the only species to
have evolved the skill of emotional
crying and what purpose it serves.
Daniel Freeman
and Jason Freeman
Men, Women
and Mental Health
Daniel Freeman
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Every day millions of people
struggle with psychological and
emotional problems. Daniel and
Jason Freeman explore which
mental health problems are more
common in men, and which are
seen more often in women. They
discuss why women have higher
rates of psychological disorder and
what might be done to address the
imbalance.
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Frances Larson
Heads Lost and Found
Josiah Wilkinson liked to pass
Oliver Cromwell’s head around
on a metal spike at breakfast
parties; London Bridge had its
own Keeper of the Heads; footage
of decapitations circulate online.
What is it about severed heads
that we find so compelling? Frances
Larson takes us on a grisly yet
fascinating excursion through this
largely uncharted world.
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Frances Larson
Geoffrey Hosking
The Nature of Trust
Who can we trust? The banks?
Politicians? Professor Geoffrey
Hosking explores the ways in
which trust and distrust have
functioned in past societies and
our own. He interrogates the
future of trust. Can we learn from
historical experience and still
trust institutions and powerful
individuals, or are we now a
distrustful society?
Christian Jarrett
What Do We Really Know
About the Brain?
Do pregnant women lose their
minds? Are right-brained people
more creative? Do we only use
10% of our brain? Psychologist
Christian Jarrett will debunk some
commonly held myths of the brain
and separate fact from fiction
around the most mysterious and
complex organ in the human body.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Sunday 8 March – Studio – Science of the Body
Richard Askwith
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Richard Barnett
No Prettiness, Much Beauty
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Richard Askwith
Wild Running
Eric Chaline
David Bainbridge
The Shape of Women
Cambridge veterinary anatomist
David Bainbridge applies the
science of evolutionary biology,
zoology and psychology to
women’s bodies, and asks why
humans are the only species with
curvy females, and why women
think about their bodies more than
men think about theirs.
Eric Chaline
My Body, My Temple
Body care arose from spiritual
beliefs, moral discipline and
aesthetic ideals, yet today training
in the gym is more to do with
individual fulfilment. Eric Chaline
traces the origins of the gym from
Ancient Greece to the present
day. He changes the way we think
about our bodies and our attitudes
to fitness.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Richard Barnett, a Wellcome Trust
Engagement Fellow, discusses
disease and the art of medical
illustration before the age of colour
photography. Through unsettling
but often exquisite imagery, he
unravels the story of the rise of
surgery and the new roles medicine
found in government provision and
everyday life.
Tired of pounding the concrete
streets, Richard Askwith went feral,
running instead up wind-blasted
rocky fells, through muddy fields
and along tussocky cliff paths. He
delivers practical tips on how to
get out there and run free; how to
avoid a stampede when crossing
a field of cows and how to get
deliberately lost. All part of the fun!
Emma Barrett
and Paul Martin
Thrive at the Limits
Emma Barrett and Paul Martin asks
why some people regularly risk
their lives by placing themselves
in extreme and challenging
situations. Sportspeople, astronauts
and explorers embrace physical
hardship, pain and mental challenge.
They argue that we can all learn
from the approaches taken to
overcome extreme difficulty.
Sunday 8 March – Main House
Cate Haste
11am
Main House
£9
Jacqueline Rose
Melvyn Bragg,
Margaret Drabble,
Cate Haste and
Mark McCrum
Writing in an Age
of Change
There have been many challenging
changes in the writing and
publishing world over the last few
years. Some open new possibilities
for writers; others make the role
of the writer more difficult. These
issues will be chewed over this
morning.
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Jacqueline Rose
Bleak Times for Women
Jacqueline Rose, Professor of
English at the University of London,
tells the story of several visionary
women, each in touch with what
is most painful about being human.
She offers a new template for
feminism, a clarion call for all to be
braver and bolder.
Margaret Drabble
James Naughtie
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Margaret Drabble
Quiet Novels, Big Stories
4.15pm
Main House
£9
James Naughtie
Emotion in Politics
sponsored by
In her collection of short stories,
‘Pure Gold Baby’, Margaret Drabble
charts the way our childhood
experiences shape us throughout
our lives. Like all her fiction these
stories glimmer with irony, lyricism
and moral vision. Through her quiet
but clear message, over many years,
Margaret Drabble has formed the
way readers regard books, women’s
experiences and life.
A mysterious death has exposed
secrets within the government,
bringing on a political crisis that
will expose a world of danger and
deceit: such is the theme of James
Naughtie’s first novel, ‘The Madness
of July’. At present he is working on
his second novel, ‘The Paris Spring’.
For over 20 years he has greeted
the waking world with his insights
into political life. Who better to
know its intrigues?
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including 7.30pm event)
Mark McCrum
6pm
Main House
£9
Ben Okri
The Royal Literary
Fund Talk –
Mark McCrum
Writing for Survival
Mark McCrum talks about his
writing career, from lunch with the
King of the Zulus to touring with
pop star Robbie Williams. He tells
the fascinating truths behind the
Reality TV shows, ‘1900 House’
and ‘Castaway’, explains how he
ghosted Prince Harry, and why
he wrote his new novel, ‘Fest’, a
murder mystery set at a literature
festival.
The Royal Literary Fund was set up
in 1790 to help professional authors.
Past beneficiaries have included
Coleridge, Joseph Conrad,
DH Lawrence and Dylan Thomas.
Last year it helped 200 writers,
though not all of them are quite so
famous yet. www.rlf.org.uk
7.30pm
Main House
£9
Ben Okri
A Magical Life
When Ben Okri talks to audiences
they find the experience profound
and transforming. His words
lead to unexpected, poetic and
metaphysical revelations. He is
the author of The Booker prizewinning novel, ‘The Famished
Road’, and now has written ‘The
Age of Magic’, his first novel in
seven years. Expect an enchanting
and unusual event.
Monday 9 March – Main House – Food Glorious Food
Charles Spence
10.15am 11.30am
Circle
Gallery
£6
Lucy McDiarmid
POETRY
BREAKFAST
Coffee, Croissants
and Poetry
Bring a poem to
read – one of
your own or one
you admire.
(Advance booking
essential)
10.45am
Main House
£9
Charles Spence
Eating with all the Senses
Having worked for many years
alongside Heston Blumenthal
experimenting with the effect
of sensory experience on taste
perception, Charles Spence
discusses gastro-physics. He asks
‘What makes for the perfect dining
experience’?
Gillian Riley
Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi
12.15pm
Main House
£9
Lucy McDiarmid
The Peacock Dinner
2.15pm
Main House
£9
Gillian Riley
Golden Apples –
Food in Art
On January 18, 1914 seven male
poets, including W.B. Yeats, Ezra
Pound, and Wilfrid Blunt, gathered
together to eat a peacock. Lucy
McDiarmid offers an account of
that meal, immortalised as the
Peacock Dinner and explores the
friendships, alliances and rivalries
between the poets.
Artists of all periods have
portrayed the tools and processes
of the gastronomic world – of the
drying, salting or smoking of meat,
fish and vegetables. Food historian
Gillian Riley demonstrates what
art can tell us about the history of
food.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including the Poetry Breakfast)
Raymond Tallis
3.45pm
Main House
£9
Katie Caldesi and
Giancarlo Caldesi
Venice – A True Taste
Owners of La Cucina Caldesi
restaurant and cookery school,
Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi
transport us to Venice where they
have unearthed recipes including
hot polpette (salty pork rissoles)
and sweet fritelle (fried custardfilled dumplings) which have been
served on the streets for centuries.
Magna e bevi che /a vita xé un lampo
– ‘eat and drink because life is a
lightning flash’ – is their motto.
5.30pm
Main House
£9
Raymond Tallis
A Complete Sense
of the World
What is the nature and purpose of
the arts? Raymond Tallis, wellknown writer, philosopher and
cultural critic, discusses why and
how the arts enrich lives.
Tuesday 10 March – Main House
Julie Summers
John Tusa
11am
Main House
£9
Julie Summers
Wartime Fashions
12.45pm
Main House
£9
John Tusa
In Defence of the Arts
Julie Summers is the bestselling
author of ‘Jam Busters’, about the
WI in the Second World War. It is
currently being made into a major
ITV drama. Now she turns to
the fashions of World War II and
gives a talk full of humorous and
fascinating facts.
Should the arts be useful before
they are excellent? Can they turn
their backs on the past if they are
to be creative in the present? Sir
John Tusa, Director of the Clore
Leadership Programme, former
Managing Director of the BBC
World Service and of the Barbican
Centre, examines how the arts
can survive in a financial downturn.
He explains why the arts deserve
special treatment.
Juliet Barker
David Crystal
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Juliet Barker
The Peasants’ Revolt
4.15pm
Main House
£9
David Crystal
Words in Time and Place
Why did a diverse group of ordinary
men and women unite in armed
rebellion against church and state to
demand a radical political agenda?
The dramatic and shocking events
of the Peasants’ Revolt provide the
backdrop to Juliet Barker’s latest
fascinating book. The acclaimed
historian and distinguished
biographer of the Brontës and
Wordsworth will talk of this violent
incident in medieval England with
her usual authority and style.
Why does the English Language
have many words to express a
single concept? How, why and when
have words entered the language?
World-celebrated linguist David
Crystal explores these questions,
introduces new words and delves
into fascinating facts about the
development of the language.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including 7.30pm event)
Tim Burt
6pm
Main House
£9
sponsored by
7.30pm
Main House
£9
Catherine Anderson
Tim Burt
Shaping the Future of
Global Business
The pace of change in the corporate
world is increasing exponentially,
driven by technology and consumer
behaviour. Where will we be in five
years’ time? Tim Burt has asked
this question of 20 eminent leaders
of major multinational businesses.
Their visions will affect many areas
of people’s lives.
Catherine Anderson
India’s Disappearing
Railways –
A Photographic Journey
The work of the late photojournalist and travel writer,
Angus McDonald, celebrates
India’s diversity and its beauty.
Angus McDonald died suddenly
whilst travelling in Burma in 2013.
Catherine Anderson, who is
currently chief-of-staff to author,
Afghanistan expert and Member of
Parliament, Rory Stewart, presents
the work of her late partner.
Tuesday 10 March – Studio – The Ordinary
Panikos Panayi
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Joe Moran
Panikos Panayi
Fish and Chips Unwrapped
Britain’s original fast food, fish
and chips, was first introduced to
the British working classes in the
19th century by immigrant Jews.
Professor of European History at
De Montfort University, Panikos
Panayi unwraps the history of
Britain’s most popular dish, adds
a shaking of amazing facts and
serves with a warming mugful of
anecdotes.
Joe Moran
TV Times
Professor Joe Moran traces the rise
and rise of the humble television.
He explores its role in creating
our ‘Armchair Nation’ and tells
previously untold stories from
behind the scenes of programmes
that are family favourites such
as Countdown and Coronation
Street.
Judith Flanders
James Ward
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Judith Flanders
The Invention of Home
3.45pm
Studio
£8
James Ward
Stationery Delights The idea of ‘home’ as a special
place where we can be our true
selves is a relatively new idea.
Historian Judith Flanders dismantles
domestic myths and investigates
the development of ordinary
household items – from cutlery,
chairs and curtains, to the fitted
kitchen, plumbing and windows.
What does shatter-proof resistant
mean? What exactly are the
thousands of uses of Blu-Tack?
James Ward celebrates the role
of the humble biro and answers
many burning stationery-related
questions. He combines peculiar
facts, curious stories and changes
the way people look at their desks
forever.
Studio Day Ticket - £24 for 4 events
Wednesday 11 March – Studio – Literary Locations
2.15 pm
Studio
£8
Sofka Zinovieff
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Who started his Lake District
honeymoon at Mirehouse in 1850,
and found his bachelor socks full of
holes laid out on the bed? Who, after
a stay at Mirehouse in 1847, travelled
to the new railway station at
Windermere, where he bumped into
Hartley Coleridge? Find the answers
to these and other amusing questions
from John Spedding of Mirehouse.
John Spedding
Jean Findlay
A Paradoxical Life
The great-great-niece of C.K. Scott
Moncrieff, celebrated translator of
Proust, reveals how he became a
doyen of literary society – friends
with Robert Graves and Noël
Coward, enemies with Siegfried
Sassoon and in love with Wilfred
Owen. Jean Findlay peels back
the layers of this enigmatic man
revealing his paradoxical life as
a fervent Catholic convert and
homosexual.
Sofka Zinovieff
Dalmatians Wore Pearls
Sofka Zinovieff offers a glimpse
into a vanished world of decadence
in Faringdon House, Oxfordshire.
Hailed as an aesthete’s paradise
in its hey-day, Faringdon House
was the location of a scandalous
ménage à trois and was visited
by many great names of the
1930s, including Salvador Dali,
Cecil Beaton, Gertrude Stein and
Siegfried Sassoon.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
John Spedding
The Remarkable Literary
History of Mirehouse
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Jeronime Palmer
The Great and the Good
of Greta Hall
Greta Hall is the former home
of Lakeland poets Coleridge and
Southey. Jeronime Palmer, the
present owner of Greta Hall,
shares tales of some of the literary
characters who frequented the
house: William and Dorothy
Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Keats,
Shelley and Sir Walter Scott amongst
others.
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Ian Hall
Living the Dream
in Cumbria
Part-time priest, farmer and campsite
owner, Ian Hall, discusses his
experiences of shared living with four
friends who pooled their resources
to buy a fell farm in Eskdale in
1976. He tells stories of an array of
Cumbrian characters, interwoven
with memories, of the trials and
tribulations faced on the land.
Wednesday 11 March – Main House
Julian Spalding
11am
Main House
£9
John Porter
Julian Spalding
The Role of Art and
Architecture in
Society’s Evolution
Phil Rigby and Michaela Robinson-Tate
2.30pm
Main House
£9
There are some things that make
Cumbria special: its stunning
scenery; its world-renowned
writers; Cumberland sausage and
Kendal mint cake. These pleasures
attract visitors from around the
world. Michaela Robinson-Tate
is currently senior writer on
Cumbria Life; Phil Rigby is a press
photographer.
Julian Spalding, latterly director
of the Gallery of Modern Art
in Glasgow, examines how our
changing world view is interpreted
through iconic images of the
remote and more recent past: the
Pyramids, Stonehenge, the Taj
Mahal, Munch’s ‘The Scream’, the
Sydney Opera House, and the
Guggenheim in Bilbao.
12.45pm
Main House
£9
John Porter
Moving Mountains
John Porter tells the history and
style of a generation of climbers
including the poignant story of the
untimely death of a leading figure
of British mountaineering: Alex
MacIntyre.
Questions that all climbers grapple
with, about luck, friendship and the
frailty of life, are tackled.
Michaela RobinsonTate and Phil Rigby
The Greatness of Cumbria
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Patrick Barkham
Britain’s Coast
Patrick Barkham, Guardian
journalist and author of impressive
books on butterflies and badgers,
tells of his journey around the
coast of Britain weaving together
local histories, personal stories
and the natural history of the most
beautiful and treasured parts of the
coast.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including 7.30pm event)
Patrick Barkham
6pm
Main House
£9
sponsored by
7.30pm
Main House
£9
Christopher Matthew
Andrew McNally
Swamped in Debt
Debt has become engrained in
our culture leaving control and
ownership in the hands of a few.
Andrew McNally argues that
equity, through the value of aligned
interests, will make everyone
better off and secure political
democracy.
Christopher Matthew
Comic Verse:
Mutts, Mongrels and More
In his latest book, ‘Dog Treats’,
Christopher Matthew writes
touching and wicked verse that
will be recognised by dog lovers
everywhere. Famous for his
pastiches (‘Now We are Sixty’ etc),
he explains how he began writing
comic verse and will illustrate his
event liberally with readings from
his books. Thursday 12 March – Main House
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
11am
Main House
£9
Giles Radice
Yasmin
Alibhai-Brown
England and Immigration
Max Adams
2.30pm
Main House
£9
One of Britain’s foremost cultural
commentators, Yasmin AlibhaiBrown tells of her love for England;
a country shaped by five centuries
of immigration. She provides a
brilliant history of the waves of
immigration, and reflects on where
we are now and what it means to
be English today. 12.45pm
Main House
£9
Giles Radice
Political Pairings
There are many interesting pairs
of political leaders from Churchill
and Attlee to Cameron and Clegg.
Sometimes these result in intense
rivalry, while others illustrate the
profound political impact of a
successful working relationship.
Lord Radice was Labour MP for
Durham North and Chairman of
the Treasury Committee until he
was appointed a Life Peer.
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Helen Macdonald
Max Adams
Trees
Trees are marvels of nature. They
are the earth’s lungs, climateregulators and habitat-protectors.
Ever since our prehistoric
ancestors emerged from the
forests of Africa, trees have given
us shelter. Max Adams reflects on
humans’ relationship with woods
and forests over the centuries. Helen Macdonald
The Healing Power
of Hawks
Helen Macdonald tells the heartfelt
story of taming a bloody, scary,
deadly goshawk while un-taming
herself. “As … I put myself in the
hawk’s wild mind to tame her, my
humanity was burning away.” She
gives a compelling account of this
challenging process. Her book,
‘H is for Hawk’, won the
prestigious Samuel Johnson prize
for non-fiction.
Main House Day Ticket - £28 for 4 events (not including 6pm event)
Mark Bostridge
6pm
Main House
£14
(talk and
film)
Shirley Williams
Shirley Williams
and Mark Bostridge
Vera Brittain
and the First World War
Mark Bostridge, Vera Brittain’s
biographer and Baroness Williams,
Vera Brittain’s daughter, explore
the effects of the First World War
on their remarkable subject, both
in terms of her personal life and
her eventual decision to become a
pacifist. They consider the new film
of this period in Vera Brittain’s life,
‘Testament of Youth’.
At 7pm there will be a 45 minute
break.
7.45pm Film:
“Testament of Youth” (cert. tbc)
Thursday 12 March – Studio – Bookcase Day
10.30am
Studio
£8
12pm
Studio
£8
1.30pm
Studio
£8
Chris Brader
Wartime Women
in the Borders
During the First World War
thousands of young women came
to live in Timbertown and work
in the vast munitions factory at
Gretna. Women were to be found
in the factories, the pubs and the
cinemas; pre-war community
values were transformed. Chris
Brader describes wartime life in
Carlisle and Gretna reflecting on
the changes that were taking place
throughout Britain. Ros Roberts
Keswick in 1870
Joseph Brown painted a picture of
Main Street, Keswick, 1870. Fifty
citizens of Keswick are portrayed
standing in front of the Moot Hall.
Each one is identified. Ros Roberts
has researched their lives and,
like Joseph Brown, has captured
Keswick and its people at one
moment in time.
Steve Matthews
Josiah Relph:
England’s First Dialect Poet
Josiah Relph translated Horace into
the Cumberland dialect and wrote
fine poetry, but led a sequestered
life in the Caldew Valley. The story
of this poet, preacher, teacher
and antiquarian, is also the story
of rural life in Cumberland in the
eighteenth century. 3pm
Studio
£8
Penny Bradshaw
Ann Radcliffe’s Tour
of the Lakes
In 1795 the popular Gothic
novelist, Ann Radcliffe, published
her ‘Observations During a Tour
to the Lakes’. The Lake District
was a landscape that was still
in the process of imaginative
discovery. Penny Bradshaw recalls
an important stepping-stone in the
journey from picturesque tourism
to Romantic inspiration.
4.30pm
Studio
£8
6pm
Studio
£8
Peter Roebuck
Cattle Drovers in
18th Century Cumbria
Herds of cattle were driven down
from Scotland to be sold in the
great markets in the south of
England. The Highlanders drove
their cattle across the Solway and
over the Border Hills and through
the Lake District. Droving has
been little studied, but it was
culturally and economically of
great significance. Peter Roebuck,
Emeritus Professor of History,
University of Ulster, tells the story
of this epic trade.
Mark Flinn
All the World
Comes to the Lakes
“The world comes to the
Lakes,” said Wordsworth. Mark
Flinn describes the numerous
guidebooks over the last two
centuries which have influenced the
way we look at the Lakes.
Studio Day Ticket - £36 for 6 events
Friday 13 March – Studio – Women’s Lives
Catherine Hall
Irma Kurtz
10.45am
Studio
£8
Catherine Hall
Realities of War
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Irma Kurtz
Purveyor of
Common Sense
Catherine Hall has worked in
international peace building and
as an editor for human rights
charities. She is thus well placed to
offer a fresh take on the maledominated arena of war. Through
the narrative lens of a female
war photographer she explores
the repercussions of war both
emotionally and psychologically in
her latest novel.
Over the past forty years
Cosmopolitan’s agony aunt, Irma
Kurtz, has dealt with all of the
intimate secrets of the human
heart. She discusses the range of
problems that perennially cross her
desk, from tensions in relationships
to eating disorders and, of course,
sex.
Studio Day Ticket - £24 for 4 events
Ellee Seymour
Marion Coutts
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Ellee Seymour
Friendship and Fashion
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Marion Coutts
The Adventure of
Being and Dying
Ellee Seymour explores the
tender romances, hardship and
poverty, as well as the fun and
camaraderie that shop girls shared
between the 1940s and the 1960s
in the glamorous environment
of Heyworth’s department store
in Cambridge. She tells heartwarming tales of working women’s
experiences.
As the respected art critic Tom
Lubbock faced cancer he lost the
power to speak just as his child was
learning to talk. In ‘The Iceberg’,
his widow Marion Coutts uses
language to talk about its loss in an
account of a family under assault
and the ingenuity by which they
fought to stay together.
Friday 13 March – Main House
Rory Stewart
11am
Main House
£9
Julia Blackburn
Derwentwater Discussion
Led by
Rory Stewart MP
Current Politics and
Contemporary Issues
The European Union, The Middle
East, The NHS, education, the
economy, housing, UKIP: there are
many issues of public concern in
the lead-up to the general election,
many questions to be considered.
Some of these will be talked over
today, with ample opportunity
for the audience to add to the
discussion.
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Julia Blackburn
Life, Illness and Death
Julia Blackburn’s account of the life
of John Craske, Norfolk fisherman,
artist and embroiderer, is not a
conventional biography. Rather it
is about life, illness and death. It is
also about life after death, as Julia’s
beloved husband Herman died
before it was finished. 2.30pm
Main House
£9
Vincent Deary
Rory Stewart
Iraq and Afghanistan –
Then and Now
Rory Stewart is a thoughtful,
questioning, humorous politician
with an impressive past. He is
well known in Cumbria as the
Conservative MP for Penrith.
He shares his experiences of the
Middle East and gives his views on
the position of the countries today.
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Vincent Deary
Are You Living the Life
You Want to Lead?
How do we negotiate change in
our lives? Vincent Deary, a health
psychologist who specialises in
helping people change their lives
for the better, examines the
power of habit and the difficulty of
change. He illuminates the curious
ways our environment, habits,
experiences and memories daily
re-make who we are.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including 8pm event)
Bursaries to
Words by the Water
If you are between
the ages of 17 – 25
you may be eligible to
attend events at this
year’s festival
free of charge
Polly Toynbee and David Walker
6pm
Main House
£9
Polly Toynbee
and David Walker
Radical Conservative Rule
Polly Toynbee and David Walker
warn against dismissing Cameron
as bland. He is more radical than
Margaret Thatcher, they suggest.
She privatised industries; he plans
to dismantle the whole of the
welfare state. Come to argue
or agree with these Guardian
journalists.
8pm – 9pm
Main House
£12
Francesca Martinez
What the **** is Normal?
Whatever body you’re born into,
it seems that most people share
the universal desire to be ‘normal’.
This show is for anyone who’s ever
struggled to fit in, felt ‘different’ or
wondered what the **** normal
means? Apart from a cycle on a
washing machine, of course.
(Suitable for 16+)
“One of the circuit’s most brilliant
comedians” The Observer
To find out more email
[email protected]
Saturday 14 March – Main House
John D. Barrow
11am
Main House
£9
Francesca Martinez
John D. Barrow
What Maths Can Tell Us
About the Arts
Mathematics and the Arts are not
so far removed from each other as
we think. Professor John D. Barrow
of the Millennium Mathematics
Project at Cambridge University,
enriches our understanding of the
maths and the art that surround
us in our day-to-day lives. Find
out how many words Shakespeare
knew, why an egg is egg-shaped,
how a soprano can shatter a wine
glass …
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Michael Buerk
Francesca Martinez
talks to
Peter Stanford
Normal is a
Four Letter Word
What happens when you’re
branded ‘abnormal’ in a world
obsessed with normality? Francesca
Martinez was diagnosed with
cerebral palsy when she was two
years old and her parents were
John Crace
gravely told that she would never
lead a ‘normal’ life. Intrigued by the
power that a six-letter word has
over so many people, she shares
her own life-changing journey of
growing up as ‘abnormal’, being
rescued from High-School-Hell by
‘Grange Hill’, letting Ricky Gervais
mock her walk in ‘Extras’ and
working out what to say to the
BBC after being offered the role of
a vegetable.
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Michael Buerk
Inside the Human Zoo:
What’s Real about
Reality Television?
I can’t promise that this will be
answered today, but at least
Michael Buerk (of BBC Radio 4’s
The Moral Maze and recently
featuring in ‘I’m a Celebrity Get
Me Out of Here’) is bringing his
superb mind to the question of the
unreality of reality television.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events (not including 8pm event)
8pm - 10pm
(inc 30 min
interval)
Main House
£14
Kate Adie
4.15pm
Main House
£9
John Crace
Modern Politics,
the Coalition and
the General Election
After the general election, Dave
and Nick, looking like newly-weds,
walked side by side into the rose
garden of 10 Downing Street to
give their first press conference
as Prime Minister and Deputy
Prime Minister. John Crace, the
Guardian’s parliamentary sketch
writer delivers his often hilarious
insights into contemporary politics. 6pm
Main House
£9
sponsored by
Kate Adie
Working Women
and World War One
A generation of men away fighting
in World War One inadvertently
promoted women’s ascent towards
equality. Broadcaster and bestselling author, Kate Adie, shows
how women emerged from the
shadows of domestic life and took
to the fields, the factories and the
offices in order to contribute to
the war effort.
Susan Calman
Lady Like
If you’ve seen Susan Calman
before, ‘Lady Like’ will be a
reassuring couple of hours spent
with the woman her neighbours
call “the mad cat lady”. If you don’t
know who she is, ‘Lady Like’ will,
at the very least, make you feel
better about your own life. It’s a
show about being older, wiser and
liking yourself whatever anyone
might say. Susan Calman - as seen
and heard on ‘The News Quiz’,
‘Calman is Convicted’, ‘QI’, and
‘Have I Got News For You’.
(Suitable for 16+)
“She’ll make you chuckle your pants off.”
Time Out
Saturday 14 March – Studio – Global Issues
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
2.15pm
The Studio
£8
Ziauddin Sardar
The Heart of Islam
It’s the direction towards which
Muslims turn at prayer; the
birthplace of Muhammad; and the
sacred city that draws millions
of pilgrims each year. Ziauddin
Sardar unravels the significance of
Mecca and examines the religious
struggles and rebellions that have
so powerfully shaped Muslim
culture.
Patrick Cockburn
Who Are ISIS?
Award-winning journalist and
Middle East correspondent for the
Independent, Patrick Cockburn,
examines the 2014 ISIS uprising and
the formation of the Caliphate. He
questions the nature of the new
threat and explores why things
have gone so badly wrong in the
region.
Ramita Navai
Tehran – Lies and Lives
What is everyday life like in
Tehran? Journalist Ramita Navai
discusses the lives of eight
protagonists drawn from across
the spectrum of Iranian society.
She delivers an intimate portrait of
modern Tehran and of what it is to
live, love and survive under such a
repressive regime.
Ziauddin Sardar
3.45pm
The Studio
£8
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Mona Siddiqui
Peter Hudson
A Village in Mauritania
Farmer and charity worker, Peter
Hudson, has been working to
improve lives in an impoverished
village in Mauritania since 1988.
He speaks candidly about life in a
country where corruption is rife,
natural resources are scarce and a
small elite live like kings.
Mona Siddiqui
A Woman of Faith
Regular contributor to Radio
Four’s ‘Thought for the Day’,
Professor Mona Siddiqui, considers
how Islamic custom and identity
can be reconciled in 21st-century
life, through the lens of her own
personal journey as a Muslim and a
modern woman.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Sunday 15 March – Studio – On the Move
2.15pm
The Studio
£9
Levison Wood
10.45am
Studio
£8
12.15pm
Studio
£8
As he strides among bell heather,
peat porridge and asphodel, over
moorlands from Cornwall via the
Pennines to the Borders, William
Atkins is guided by the books he
reads and the people he meets –
farmers, monks, ornithologists,
gamekeepers, prisoners, soldiers
and walkers.
William Atkins
Andrew Martin
Heroic Days of Rail
Whatever happened to porters,
dining cars and timetables? Andrew
Martin, who practically grew up
on a train, attempts to recreate
five famous British train journeys.
He discovers a few changes
have taken place since the days
when you could dine on kippers
and champagne on the Brighton
Belle or be shaved by the Flying
Scotsman’s on-board barber.
Levison Wood
Walking the Nile
Last August, Levison Wood arrived
at the Mediterranean Sea having
walked the length of the Nile from
its source in Rwanda. The former
army officer speaks of the dangers
he encountered, the characters
he met and the extreme highs and
lows of his three thousand mile
hike through six African countries.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
William Atkins
The Moor –
South to North
3.45pm
The Studio
£8
Hannah Reynolds
and John Walsh
St-Malo to Nice by Bike
Cyclists Hannah Reynolds and John
Walsh have charted a 1,000-mile
route through France from St-Malo
to Nice. They find ‘stages’ for
both seasoned cyclists and softies,
advise on the French for ‘I have
a puncture’, seek out the best
formule du jour and track down
idyllic spots for evening swims.
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Rose Mitchell
The Language of Maps
Behind every map is a story.
National Archivist Rose Mitchell
takes a fascinating journey through
the world of maps and mapmakers
including some of the more
unusual, such as the map of London
drawn on a lady’s glove in 1851.
Sunday 15 March – Main House
Jean Seaton
11am
Main House
£9
Peter Stanford
Jean Seaton with
Michael Buerk and
Caroline Thomson
The BBC, Past and Future
Jean Seaton is Professor of Media
History at the University of
Westminster and Official Historian
of the BBC. She has been involved
in a variety of policy discussions
within the BBC drawing upon her
understanding of the historical
precedent. She leads a discussion
on what is right and wrong with
the BBC with Michael Buerk
and Caroline Thomson (former
BBC executive, now Executive
Director of English National Ballet).
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Peter Stanford
Judas
Writer and broadcaster Peter
Stanford deconstructs that most
vilified of Bible characters: Judas
Iscariot, who famously betrayed
Jesus with a kiss. He investigates
how the very name Judas came to
be synonymous with betrayal and,
ultimately, human evil.
Salley Vickers
Matthew Dennison
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Salley Vickers
Fiction – Short and Long
4.15 pm
Main House
£9
Matthew Dennison
The Extraordinary Life of
Vita Sackville-West Salley Vickers talks about her
new collection of short stories.
Former lecturer in literature
and psychoanalyst; author of the
best-selling ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’
and six other acclaimed novels,
including her latest ‘The Cleaner of
Chartres’; Salley Vickers’ thoughtful
talks leave the audience asking
questions about literature and life.
Aristocrat, literary celebrity,
Sissinghurst’s ‘Rose Queen’,
devoted wife, lesbian, recluse,
iconoclast: Vita Sackville-West was
many things, but she was never
straightforward. Matthew Dennison
reveals a renegade, brave and
charismatic woman who was often
misunderstood.
Main House Day Ticket - £28 for 4 events
www.bookscumbria.com
We are pleased
to be supporting
Words by the Water
and look forward
to seeing you at
the Festival Bookshop,
Theatre by the Lake.
We also welcome you to our shops
Bookends 56 Castle Street Carlisle
Tel 01228 529067
Bookends 66 Main Street Keswick
Tel 017687 75277 and
Bookcase 17 Castle Street Carlisle
Tel 01228 544560,
for rare and secondhand books
and new classical CDs
Booking and Other Information
PLEASE NOTE: TICKETS ARE NOT FOR SALE
FROM WAYS WITH WORDS.
In Person
Priority Booking
Online
Friends of Ways With Words or
Theatre by the Lake can book tickets from
Monday 15 December 2014.
General booking starts on
Monday 5 January 2015.
Visit the Box Office at Theatre by the Lake
open 9.30am – 8.00pm daily.
Book online at www.theatrebythelake.com
By Phone
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 WBTW 2015 event (subject to
availability) or hold a credit for you against a future
booking.
There is a £1 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.)
Festival Passes
• Festival Pass ‘A’ at £155 gives entry to all Main
House events on Fri 6 – Tues 10 March inc.
• Festival Pass ‘B’ at £155 gives entry to all Main
House events on Wed 11 – Sun 15 March inc.
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 £9 or £8 for just £4 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
Theatre by the Lake’s Address
Theatre by the Lake
Lakeside
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5DJ
Away With Words . . .
Getting away from the normal routine can be an enormous boost to your
creativity and general sense of well-being.
Ways With Words organises other festivals in the UK
and also holiday courses in Italy and in Devon.
For full details of all of these go to wayswithwords.co.uk where you can
also sign up to receive regular e-newsletters.
Fingals Hotel, Dittisham, Devon
Writing and Reading Course
10 – 15 May 2015
Villa Pia, Umbria, Italy
Writing and Painting Course
26 September – 3 October 2015
3 – 10 October 2015
. . . We hope to see you back in Keswick next year for
Words by the Water 2016 (4 – 13 March)
Thank you to:
The Advisory Group Members:
Our Venue Hosts:
Sue Allan
Christopher Burns
Richard Eccles (Cumbria Life)
James & Janaki Fryer Spedding (Mirehouse)
Patric Gilchrist (Theatre by the Lake)
Philippa Harrison
Gwenda and Lucy Matthews (Bookends)
Elizabeth Stott
Helen Towers (Reader Development Officer)
The Words by the Water Staff:
Customer Relations : Phil John
Festival Programme
and Administration Assistants :
Leah Varnell and Jane Fitzgerald
Festival Assistants :
Penny and Bob Humphrys
Charles Mitchell and Cynthia Fletcher
Sponsor:
Support in Kind:
Mercedes-Benz of South Lakes
The Publishers:
Alma Books Ltd • Atlantic Books • Bloomsbury
Bodley Head • Canongate • Chatto and Windus
Ebury • Elliott and Thompson • Faber and Faber
Granta • Hardie Grant Books • Harper Colllins
Head of Zeus • Hodder • IB Tauris • Jonathan
Cape • Little Brown • Lund Humphries • Orion
Oxford University Press • Oxford Publicity
Partnership • Penguin • Profile • Quarto
Publishing • Reaktion • Routledge • Simon and
Schuster • Thames and Hudson • The History
Press • Transworld • Verso • Vertebrate
Publishing • Vintage • Wild Things Publishing
Wiley Blackwell • Wilmington Square Books
Photo Credits:
Val Corbett, Rehan Jamil, Josh Kearns,
Kona McPhee, Fiona Makkink, Kate Mount,
Marzena Pogorzaly Fiona Shaw,
Steve Ullathorne, Jeff Veitch, B. White
facebook.com/wayswithwords
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Speakers include:
Kate Adie
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Richard Askwith
Juliet Barker
Linda Blair
Mark Bostridge
Melvyn Bragg
Michael Buerk
Susan Calman
Margaret Drabble
Christopher Frayling
Michael Frayn
Cate Haste
Alan Johnson
Helen Macdonald
Francesca Martinez
Blake Morrison
James Naughtie
Ben Okri
Giles Radice
Jacqueline Rose
Åsne Seierstad
Mona Siddiqui
Julian Spalding
Rory Stewart
Claire Tomalin
Polly Toynbee
John Tusa
Salley Vickers
David Walker
Shirley Williams
– and more
017687 74411
www.wordsbythewater.org.uk