A stellar line-up of best-selling authors will be headlining this year’s Words by the Water Festival.
The programme for the festival, running from March 12 to 16 at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, features some big name speakers bringing a mix of conversation, debate and ideas to the town.
The festival, the programme for which has just been announced, also promises to be a celebration of local talent along with the famous names. It is also hosting a number of practical writing workshops through the week and competitions for young Cumbrian writers.
Appearing at the festival finale on Sunday March 16, at 4.30pm, will be the Rev Richard Coles who took part in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! in December 2024, when he reached the final three of the competition.
The writer, broadcaster and Anglican priest, will be in conversation to discuss his most recent Canon Clement storyline in Murder at the Monastery, among other topics. Richard is a former member of the band The Communards and since leaving the priesthood in 2022, has continued writing and broadcasting.
There is an opportunity on Saturday March 15 to join the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage for an afternoon of readings to celebrate his Sunday Times best-seller Blossomise, which brings new perspectives and energy to a timeless poetic subject in a glorious collaboration with the acclaimed illustrator, Angela Harding. It will also feature Simon reading new unpublished work and an audience question and answer session.
On Friday March 14 political commentators and journalists Polly Toynbee and David Walker will look at the state of Britain after years of political mayhem and austerity. They will explore the heavy burden taken on by ministers in the new government as they set out to repair the damage, rebuild trust and once again make social progress.
Combining the latest data with expert interviews from the health, policing, children’s services, housing, transport, criminal justice and education sectors, they have compiled an essential guide to the state of the nation.
And the prolific Ann Cleeves will return to celebrate the paperback publication of her 11th Vera novel called The Dark Wives. She is the author of 37 novels and the creator of those much-loved detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn.
Retired journalist Alan Cleaver, who has a passion for folklore and the unwritten history of Great Britain, will reveal the postal paths walked by rural postmen and women in Cumbria in the 19th and 20th centuries as they delivered mail to remote farms and homes. He shares the tough lives they endured as they walked the routes six days a week in all weathers.
Public booking for the festival opens on Thursday January 16 at noon. TBTL members get priority booking, with sales opening yesterday for best friends, champions and benefactors.
