Words by the Water

Words by the Water
Festival of Words and Ideas
1 – 10 March 2013
Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
Welcome to
Words by the Water
WHAT IS THE POINT
OF WORDS BY THE WATER?
Melvyn Bragg,
Words by the Water’s
President
What is the point of festivals like Words by
the Water? There are many points – where to
start? Thousands of people come to Words by
the Water with diverse interests. Some will be
interested in politics, others have a concern
for the environment; some will have a love of
history, others a curiosity about science or
economics or philosophy. Many who attend
have a general fascination with people and the
world, so many topics interest them. Words
by the Water aims to cater for a wide variety
of people.
For this very reason perhaps, there is a
warmth, liveliness and buzz such as you find at
the best parties. One of the points of festivals
seems to be the chance for communities to
come together: the like-minded and the not-solike-minded.
Don’t rely on this short and limited response
to the question, “What is the point of Words
by the Water?” Come to Theatre by the Lake
in March, join in the festival and provide your
own answers.
Festival Directors:
Kay Dunbar, Stephen Bristow,
Chloë Bar-Kar and Videl Bar-Kar
facebook.com/wayswithwords
follow us @ways_with_words
#wayswithwords
As I write this, I’ve just come back from
walking on Hampstead Heath in thick mists. It
was almost as if the Heath had been painted
new colours. People and dogs loomed,
appeared and disappeared as might-be ghosts
of artists like Constable and Dickens and
Lawrence, and especially Keats who lived
nearby and, who knows, might have got a whiff
of his inspiration from this particular sight in
this particular place.
One of the aspects of the Lake District is that
the sites and places have given rise to poems,
novels, essays and stories for well over 200
years now, and so we drift through a place as
much marked by literature as it is by landscape.
The new site of course is Theatre by the Lake.
Just across the lake is an island which used to
be called St. Erebert’s after the saint who lived
there in the 7th Century, and his greatest wish
was to die on the same day as St. Cuthbert,
and meet him in heaven.
Meetings of a more earthly variety now take
place at a festival devoted to words, which
attracts literally thousands of wordseekers
looking perhaps, like St. Erebert, for their small
purchase on an elevated kingdom.
Thank you to:
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 Publishers:
Abacus, Biteback Publishing, Bloomsbury,
Chatto & Windus, Doorstop, Ebury Publishing,
Faber and Faber, Fourth Estate, Granta,
Guardian Books, Harper Collins,
Hodder and Stoughton, Litfest & Smith,
Little Brown, Martha Halford PR, Orion,
Oxford University Press, Palgrave MacMillan,
Penguin General, Penguin Press, Polity Press,
Profile Books, Quarto Books, Random House,
Saraband, Simon & Schuster, Square Peg,
Thames & Hudson, The Bodley Head Ltd,
Verso Books, Vintage, Virago,
Yale University Press
Sponsor:
Support in Kind:
www.bookscumbria.com
The Advisory Group Members:
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
Friday 1 March – Main House
2.30pm
Main
House
£9
Sponsored by
Radio 4 legend James Naughtie
explains how he selected 60
public figures from all walks of life
who defined our times, for the
Diamond Jubilee. The result was a
fascinating insight into creativity and
achievement, from Doris Lessing
to Simon Cowell. How were they
picked and do you agree with the
selection?
4pm
Main
House
£9
Sandi Toksvig
Comedy and Fiction
5.30pm
Main
House
£9
Chris Mullin
A Very British Coup
James Naughtie
Sandi Toksvig
James Naughtie
The New Elizabethans
Comedian and broadcaster Sandi
Toksvig discusses her work and her
inventive new novel about a young
woman, Valentine Grey, who dons
her cousin’s uniform and goes to
fight in the Boer War. Exploring
gender, liberty, empire and injustice,
the novel follows Indian-born
Valentine who must now cope with
the insufferable English weather and
society.
Chris Mullin revisits his acclaimed
political satire, ‘A Very British
Coup’, after a new Channel 4
series, ‘Secret State’, has been
broadcast, inspired by his original
book. The drama of a Labour leader
fighting to dissolve the monopoly
of a newspaper magnate is more
prescient than ever before.
Main House Day Ticket - £21 for 3 events
(not including 8pm event)
Friday 1 March – Studio
8pm 10pm
Main
House
£12
Arthur Smith
Exposed!
An evening of sublime playfulness
from the star of ‘Grumpy Old Men’,
‘QI’, ‘Have I Got News For You’
and BBC Radio 4’s ‘Loose Ends’.
A one-man show crammed with
jokes, anecdotes, short stories,
poems and songs, guaranteed
to bring a night of hilarity, mirth
and scandal . . . with just a touch
of rudeness thrown in for good
measure.
There will be a 30 min. interval.
4.15pm
Studio
£8
Paul Scott
Willows, Windmills and
Wild Roses – Landscape,
Pattern and Promiscuity
A story of confected, printed
landscapes - their travels through
media, material, cultures,
geographies - and an exploration of
their contemporary re-animation.
Paul Scott is an artist, author and
educator. His artworks can be found
in public spaces and collections
around the globe, including the
Victoria and Albert Museum in
London.
Arthur Smith
There will be an exhibition of Paul’s
ceramic work during the festival –
Paul Scott: Cumbrian Blue(s)
Fri 1 March - Mon 25 March
Saturday 2 March – Main House
11am
Main House
£9
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Stuart Prebble
Secrets and Submarines
Stuart Prebble uses his meticulous
journalistic skills to tell a story of
Britain...through a submarine. HMS
Conqueror is the only sub to have
sunk an enemy ship since WWII.
Prebble investigates whether
Margaret Thatcher deliberately
sunk the ship that killed 323 men
in an Argentine cruiser, and delves
into the murky history of the
Falklands war.
Simon Hoggart
House of Fun: 20 Glorious
Years in Parliament
Simon Hoggart recalls his 20 years
as parliamentary sketch writer
and political commentator for the
Guardian. From Tony Blair with
his verb-free sentences, to Michael
Fabricant with his My Little Pony
hair piece and David Cameron,
who really hates being drawn
with a condom on his head, this is
instant history with a comic twist.
Simon Hoggart
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalin
Charles Dickens and Queen
Victoria: A Surprising
Relationship
Claire Tomalin is a masterful
biographer who has breathed life
into some of our best-loved writers,
including Mary Wollstonecraft,
Samuel Pepys and Jane Austen.
She now turns her pen to Charles
Dickens. Come and hear the
intriguing story of the novelist and
the queen.
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Melvyn Bragg
The Great William Tyndale,
1494 - 1536
Tyndale was a scholar and
theologian whose translation
of the New Testament was the
first to be printed in English. His
simple, clear style was a model for
subsequent English translations of
the bible. Melvyn Bragg, Words by
the Water’s president, presents
a case for him being the greatest
Englishman who ever lived.
8pm
Main House
£9
Melvyn Bragg
6pm
Main House
£9
From many years at the forefront
of government fellow Labour
politicians, Jack Straw and Chris
Mullin, offer authoritative insights
into the complex and fascinating
world of British politics and
discuss some of the seminal
decisions that have shaped the
world we live in today.
Tony Hawks
Tony Hawks
Transforming Words:
A Journey from
Book to Film
Jack Straw
Comedian, author amd Radio 4
regular, Tony Hawks, takes us
through the challenges of changing
a book into a film. Illustrated with
clips from the films made from
his books ‘Round Ireland With A
Fridge’ and ‘Playing the Moldovans
at Tennis’, he will discuss the
problems he faced and the solutions
he attempted.
Proceeds from this event will go to
The Tony Hawks Centre for children
with cerebral palsy in Moldova.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
(not including 8pm event)
Jack Straw
in conversation with
Chris Mullin
A Ringside View
Saturday 2 March – Studio – More Than Money
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Colin Crouch
What’s Left of What’s Right?
Our Economy
and Our Future
3.45pm
Studio
£8
The author of ‘The Death of
Economics’, ‘Butterfly Economics’
and ‘Why Most Things Fail’, Paul
Ormerod argues that the financial
crisis exposes the limits of modern
economics, and the need to adapt to
modern living. He explores network
effects - the idea that people often
change their behaviour simply
because of others, and the perils and
possibilities therein.
Why, when the financial system all
but collapsed, did the free market
emerge not only unscathed, but
largely unchallenged? In plain,
animated English, Colin Crouch
examines the ‘too big to fail’
corporations, the danger of lobbyists,
and the shape of things to come.
2pm
Studio
£8
Colin Mayer
Crisis, Commitment
and the Corporation
In the midst of global financial
turmoil, Colin Mayer turns his eye to
the role of the business corporations
that shape so much of our world. He
asks why so many firms are failing us,
and sets out an agenda for converting
the corporation into a twenty-first
century organization that we will
value and trust.
All Studio
events today are
sponsored by
Paul Ormerod
How Networks Can
Revolutionise the World
5.30pm
Studio
£8
Mrs Moneypenny
Straight Talking
Mrs. Moneypenny’s weekly column
in the Financial Times and her
role as presenter of Channel 4’s
‘Superscrimpers’ have garnered her
many devoted fans. Her views and
advice are always frank, humorous
and full of wisdom. Today she will
enlighten us on the state we’re in,
and about her latest book, ‘Mrs.
Moneypenny’s Careers Advice for
Ambitious Women’.
Studio Day Ticket - £24 for 4 events
Mrs Moneypenny
BAILLIE GIFFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL SPONSORSHIP
LITERATURE ADDS TO REALITY,
IT DOES NOT SIMPLY DESCRIBE
IT. IT ENRICHES THE NECESSARY
COMPETENCIES THAT DAILY LIFE
REQUIRES AND PROVIDES; AND
IN THIS RESPECT, IT IRRIGATES
THE DESERTS THAT OUR LIVES
HAVE ALREADY BECOME.
C. S. LEWIS 1898 -1963
The story of long-term
investment continues.
Baillie Gifford is delighted to be a major sponsor of Words by the Water.
We are one of the UK’s largest investment trust managers. In our daily work in investments
we do our very best to emulate the diligence and imagination that successful writers bring to
the creative process.
Our free tri-annual Trust magazine offers you an engaging and insightful overview of the
investment world along with details of our literary festival activity throughout the UK.
To find out more about our sponsorship or to enter our prize draw,
visit us* at www.bgtrustonline.com/keswick
*To access the prize draw page you must use the full URL stated above. Baillie Gifford Savings Management Limited (BGSM) produces
Trust magazine and is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co, which is the manager and secretary of eight investment trusts. Your personal
data is held and used by BGSM in accordance with data protection legislation. We may use your information to send you details about
Baillie Gifford products, funds or special offers and to contact you for business research purposes. We will only disclose your information
to other companies within the Baillie Gifford group and to agents appointed by us for these purposes. You can withdraw your consent to
receiving further marketing communications from us and to being contacted for business research purposes at any time. You also have the
right to review and amend your data at any time.
Sunday 3 March – Main House
11am
Main
House
£9
Michael Frayn
Writing Farce
and Other Challenges
12.30pm
Main
House
£9
Simon Armitage
Walking Home
Simon Armitage
Much-loved playwright, novelist and
journalist Michael Frayn discusses the
challenges of writing comedy in the
light of his new, acclaimed, farcical
novel ‘Skios’, together with the other
comedic, dramatic, fictional and
philosophical works that make up his
well-known canon.
In 2010 the highly acclaimed poet,
Simon Armitage, walked the
Pennine Way, travelling as a modern
troubadour. Without a penny in his
pocket he traversed the 256 mile
route, paying his way with poetry
readings in village halls, churches,
living rooms and pubs. He discusses
his journey through wild landscapes,
local communities, emotional and
physical challenges, and chance
encounters.
2pm
Main
House
£9
Salley Vickers
Writing Influences
3.30pm
Main
House
£9
Pat Barker
Fiction and the
First World War
Salley Vickers
There is something special about
the medieval Cathedral of Chartres
and the mysterious woman, named
Agnès Morel, who is to be found
cleaning it each morning. No one
quite knows where she came
from. Salley Vickers, author of the
celebrated ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’,
discusses her new novel, ‘The
Cleaner of Chartres’, a compelling
story of tragedy, second chances
and the power of the past.
Booker prize-winner and author of
the acclaimed ‘Regeneration’ trilogy,
Pat Barker, discusses her new novel
‘Toby’s Room’; a dark wartime tale
of intrigue, loss, secrecy, identity
and betrayal. She talks of her
fascination with World War One
and the wounded soldiers who
survived, and divulges fresh insights
into her latest powerful novel.
Alexander McCall Smith
5pm
Main
House
£9
Sponsored by
Jonathan Fenby
China Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow
Jonathan Fenby tackles the story
of an extraordinary country, and
its disparate elements: the rapidly
expanding economy, the population
of over 1.3 billion, its trade surplus,
its dubious free speech record.
Fenby argues that only by seeing
China as a whole can we arrive at a
coherent picture of its nature and
depict its future.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
(not including 7.30pm event)
7.30pm
Main
House
£9
Alexander
McCall Smith
Botswana to Edinburgh,
Medicine to Music:
An Author’s Many Worlds
Alexander McCall Smith is
much-loved for his murder
mystery series, ‘The No. 1 Ladies’
Detective Agency’. As prolific as
he is multifarious, McCall Smith has
written children’s books, novels,
short stories and series. Come and
hear the international best-selling
writer talk about his work.
Sunday 3 March – Studio – History
11.15am
Studio
£8
Chris West
First Class: A History of
Britain in 36 Postage Stamps
Sarah Wise
Lunacy, Liberty
and the Mad-Doctors in
Victorian England
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Stamps tell a story. Using 36 of our
most expressive, quirky, beautiful
and sometimes baffling stamps, Chris
West tells us the story of Britain,
through Dickens and the Potato
Famine to Thatcher and Punk. Since
the Penny Black in 1840, stamps have
made and mirrored history, providing
a tantalising window into an era.
12.45pm
Studio
£8
Mary Fulbrook
A Small Town
Near Auschwitz
Mary Fulbrook’s family, refugees
from Nazi Germany, knew the family
of Udo Klausa well. However, a few
years ago, Mary Fulbrook discovered
that Udo Klausa, a seemingly normal
family man, implemented Nazi
policies in his area. Using a wealth
of personal letters, memoirs and
interviews Mary Fulbrook questions
how ordinary people such as Udo
became Nazi perpetrators.
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Sarah Wise looks over 75 years of
psychiatry in 19th Century England,
bringing to light new research and
unseen stories of contested lunacy.
Exploring Victorian social history,
she provides unique insight into the
sexuality, fears and greed of the
Victorian middle class.
James Long
History and Fiction
James Long has written several
novels that rely on his understanding
and knowledge of history, including
his latest, ‘The Lives She Left Behind’,
the long awaited sequel to his novel
‘Ferney’. In the wake of Hilary
Mantels’ double Booker success
he discusses the popularity and
relevance of historical fiction.
Christopher Clark
5.15pm
Studio
£8
Sarah Wise
Christopher Clark
The Sleepwalkers:
How Europe Went to
War in 1914
Drawing on an array of new
sources, Christopher Clark,
Professor of Modern History at the
University of Cambridge, examines
the myriad causes of the outbreak
of WW1, to reveal a story that
offers worrying parallels to today’s
conflicts.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Monday 4 March – Main House
Gavin Francis
11am
Main House
£9
Gavin Francis
Empire Antarctica
Gavin Francis, a medical doctor
from Scotland, spent fourteen
months living alongside emperor
penguins on a profoundly
isolated British research station
in Antarctica. Following the
penguins throughout the year,
Gavin Francis explores the
hardship of living surrounded by
ice, where the legends of Scott
and Shackleton loom large, and
the penguin community brings
unexpected comfort.
1.30pm
Main House
£9
Before Bletchley Park could break
the German codes, the enemy’s daily
communications were monitored
around the clock by the Listening
Service – a team of young men and
women posted across the world.
From Cairo to Karachi, Sinclair
McKay unearths a fascinating
compendium of memories from
surviving veterans, whose vital
contribution to the war effort was
previously shrouded in secrecy.
3pm
Main House
£9
Main House Day Ticket - £21 for 3 events
Sinclair McKay
The Secret Listeners:
Breaking the German Codes
Heidi Thomas
Call the Midwife
Heidi Thomas discusses the writing
and making of hit BBC show ‘Call
the Midwife’. Exploring its historical
context, Heidi Thomas explains how
Jennifer Worth’s 1950s memoirs
were brought to the screen, how
the post-war period was recreated,
and how she and the actors felt
about bringing a very special piece of
literature to life.
Monday 4 March – Studio
2pm 4.30pm
(with an
interval)
Studio
£8
Two events curated and presented by
New Writing Cumbria,
the county’s literature development
project.
The Fire Crane – No Signal
The Fire Crane is a new literary
freesheet published by New Writing
Cumbria, showcasing the best of
contemporary Cumbrian literature.
This is the launch event for issue 02,
which will have a country theme.
There’s something nasty in the
woodshed – infected badgers, low
wages, wicked house prices, and no
signal on your mobile.
Climbing The Dark Mountain
A ‘live anthology’ from Cumbrian
writers and Ulverston-based Paul
Kingsnorth, who directs Dark
Mountain, an international network
of artists and thinkers who believe
that our converging global crises
are rooted in the stories we tell
ourselves about who we are and
where we are going.
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
5pm
Studio
£8
free of charge
David Ward
Noisy Owls and Dead Nuns:
Highlights from
Theatre by the Lake
What happened to the wandering
cactus? Who had a bad attack of
wind? Who kept forgetting to put his
pants on? And where did the bustenhancing chicken fillets go? Join the
staff of Theatre by the Lake as they
celebrate the joys of live theatre in
‘Noisy Owls and Dead Nuns’.
To find out more email
[email protected]
Tuesday 5 March – Main House
© Val Corbett
10.15 11.30am
Circle
Gallery
£6
(Advance
booking
essential)
Poetry Breakfast
Coffee, Croissants And Poetry
Bring a poem
to read, one
of your own
or one you
admire.
11am
Main House
£9
Kate Summerscale
The Private Diary
1.30pm
Main House
£9
Jenny Uglow
Sarah Losh,
a Romantic Heroine
Mrs Henry Robinson, a thirtyone year old Victorian lady in a
loveless marriage, was often left
alone with her fantasies and so
decided to record them. The result
was a lustful, intimate diary which
rocked and disturbed Victorian
society when it was discovered.
Kate Summerscale, author of
‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’,
discusses the journal, and the
scandalous trial it provoked.
Born into an old Cumbrian
family, friends to Wordsworth
and Coleridge, Sarah Losh was a
radical female stone carver. Hers
is a story of the personal joy of
making and of the skill of local,
unsung craftsmen. Award-winning
biographer Jenny Uglow brings to
life an extraordinary woman and the
history of a magnificent region.
Phyllida Law
Dementia, Ma and Me
4.30pm
Main House
£9
Barry Cunliffe
Our Origins and
Earliest Ancestors
Kate Summerscale
Jenny Uglow
3pm
Main House
£9
Recently widowed, bringing up two
daughters (actresses Emma and
Sophie Thompson), and working as a
successful actress, Phyllida Law went
to Scotland as often as possible to
spend time with her ailing mother.
Her frank, funny and moving journal
charts her relationship with her
mother – and her mother’s demise.
Phyllida Law
12,000 years ago bands of huntergatherers re-colonized the islands we
now know as Britain and Ireland. Sir
Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor
of Archaeology at the University
of Oxford and Commissioner of
English Heritage, unearths the story
of Britain’s origins and ancestors,
dispelling myths and upturning longheld assumptions along the way.
7.30pm
Main House
£9
Matthew Parris
Andrew Bryson
Main House Day Ticket - £28 for 4 events
(not including 7.30pm event)
Matthew Parris
and Andrew Bryson
Brits Abroad
In a sequel to the rip-roaringly funny
‘Parting Shots’, Matthew Parris and
Andrew Bryson bring together some
of the funniest despatches from
British Ambassadors. Stories include
being lost in Russia, and the horse
given as a present to John Major by
Turkmenistan. A hilarious insight into
how the British view the world . . .
and how the world views us.
Tuesday 5 March – Studio – The Environment
11.15am
Studio
£8
1.45pm
Studio
£8
Miriam Darlington
In Search of the Wild Otter
Over the course of a year and a half
Miriam Darlington travelled around
Britain in search of the wild otter.
Today she charts her search through
Wales, Northumberland, Cornwall
and Cumbria, and her meetings with
conservationists, ecologists, scientists,
nature enthusiasts, otter experts,
hunters and poets.
Mike Berners-Lee
The Future of Energy
and Geopolitics
Mike Berners-Lee reveals climate
change as one of the most challenging
intellectual, social and political puzzles
in human history. As carbon emissions
continue to accelerate upwards,
following a trend that goes back
hundreds of years, he cuts across
science, politics, economics and
psychology to make sense of the key
issue of our times.
3.15pm
Studio
£8
Sara Maitland
Gossip from the Forest
4.45pm
Studio
£8
Fairytales are one of our earliest,
most vital cultural forms, and
forests are an example of ancient,
primal landscapes. Through a blend
of nature writing, history and
imaginative fiction, Sara Maitland
explores the intimate connection
between our forests and fairytales.
She tells of visiting, camping and
walking through Britain’s woodlands
to discover their literary secrets.
Fiona Martynoga
Wild Harvests
6.15pm
Studio
£8
Foragers assemble. Learn how to
connect with the land around you,
and how to put plants from fields,
woods and seashores to best use.
Get tips for finding firewood and
seaweeds. Fiona Martynoga is an
expert in wild cooking, from nettle
haggis to blueberry muffins.
Simon Garfield
On The Map:
Why the World
Looks the Way it Does
Maps fascinate - they chart our
understanding of the world, they log
our progress, but above all they tell
our stories. From the early sketches
of philosophers and explorers through
to Google Maps; from spellbinding
treasure maps to cartographic frauds
and dealers in rare maps; Simon
Garfield examines how maps both
relate and realign our history.
Simon Garfield
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Wednesday 6 March – Studio – Writing the World
Nadeem Aslam
Andrea Stuart
11.15am
Studio
£8
Nadeem Aslam
Novel Territory
1.45pm
Studio
£8
Andrea Stuart
Sugar and Slavery
Two brothers enter Afghanistan, not
to fight with the Taliban, but to help
wounded civilians. However, good
intentions can’t keep them out of
harm’s way. Nadeem Alsam, author
of ‘Maps for Lost Lovers’, has written
a searing novel set in Afghanistan and
Pakistan in the months following 9/11
- a story of war, family, and loss.
Andrea Stuart’s earliest known
ancestor, George Ashby, left Britain
for a new life in Barbados in the late
1630s. Over the following centuries
a story of insatiable greed, forbidden
love, abuse and liberation unfolds.
Mixing extensive historical research
and biography, Andrea Stuart follows
her family’s involvement with sugar,
charting the history of slavery and
empire through generations.
Sarah Moss
Jay Griffiths
3.15pm
Studio
£8
Sarah Moss
Strangers in Iceland
4.45pm
Studio
£8
Jay Griffiths
Childhood
Across the World
Having been fascinated by Iceland
when she was a child, Sarah Moss
jumped at the chance of moving
to Reykjavik. She tells the story of
navigating a sublime landscape, both
alien and familiar, and what it’s like to
settle with a young family into a land
of extremes.
While travelling the world, Jay
Griffiths became increasingly aware
of the huge differences in how
childhood is experienced in various
cultures. Moving from communities
in West Papua and the Arctic to
the ostracised young people of
contemporary Britain, she tells of her
passionate examination of what it
means to be a child.
Studio Day Ticket - £24 for 4 events
Wednesday 6 March – Main House
Oliver James
11am
Main House
£9
1.30pm
Main House
£9
Victoria Glendinning
Oliver James
Making it Work
Clinical psychologist and author
Oliver James issues challenges on
coping with success in his bestselling
book ‘Affluenza’, to family life in
‘They F*** You Up’, through to
attitudes to dementia. Now he
studies the world of work and
explains why relationships in the
workplace are so vital.
3pm
Main House
£9
Victoria Glendinning, a prizewinning
biographer, takes on the life of
Thomas Stamford Raffles (17811826): the charismatic founder of
Singapore and the Governor of
Java, English adventurer, disobedient
employee of the East India Company,
utopian imperialist, linguist, zoologist
and civil servant. She tells about his
extraordinary life and controversial
rise within the social and historical
contexts of his world.
Harriet Sergeant
My Years With a
Teenage Gang
One day, while writing a report on
why so many working-class boys fail
at school, Harriet Sergeant met a
teenage gang. It was a meeting that
turned into an unlikely friendship
and altered many of her views.
She describes how this friendship
changed her and investigates the
forces that turn young men to a
world of crime.
Victoria Glendinning
Raffles and the
Golden Opportunity
Harriet Sergeant
Michael Holroyd
4.30pm
Main House
£9
6.30pm
Main House
£9
Michael Holroyd
On Wheels
Acclaimed biographer Michael
Holroyd takes the humble
automobile as his latest subject.
Weaving together memoir and
anecdote with historical example
he will trace his relationship with
cars and driving through a lifetime
of biography. Hear how George
Bernard Shaw continued to drive
with reckless gusto into his 80s and
how, for Vita Sackville-West, her
car was a boudoir.
Rachel Holmes
and Guests
Fifty Shades of Feminism
Fifty years after the publication
of ‘The Feminine Mystique’,
have women really exchanged
purity and maternity to become
desiring machines inspired only
by variations of sex, shopping and
masochism? Writer Rachel Holmes
has brought together fifty women –
young and old, writers, politicians,
actors, scientists, mothers – to
reflect on what being a woman
means to them today.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
(not including 8pm event)
8pm
Main House
£9
Val Corbett
Rainy Days
in the Lake District
Prize-winning photographer Val
Corbett revels in the rain in the
Lake District. She has been out
in the foulest weather to capture
rolling clouds, fleeting rainbows
and sodden sheep. She has
photographed wild days, gentle
drizzle and benches floating by in
the aftermath of the recent floods
as well as the dripping anoraks of
fell walkers huddled by the fire as
the rain patters on. This fun event
is a reminder to always look on the
bright side, whatever the weather.
© Val Corbett
Thursday 7 March – Main House
A MORNING AT GRETA HALL
11am
Main House
Keswick, Thursday 7 March, 10.30am – 1pm
£9
Greta Hall was built around 1800 and was the
former home of the Lake poets Coleridge and
Southey. Southey was the Poet Laureate from
1813 – 1843 and lived there for 40 years. Many
literary personalities visited: the Wordsworths,
Lamb, Hazlitt, Shelley, Ruskin and Scott.
This fine Georgian house, situated just 5
minutes from Keswick town centre, will be the
venue for a morning of literary activities.
Most will take place in front of the fire in
Southey’s study.
The tutor will be:
Dr. Penelope Bradshaw
Senior Lecturer in English and Course Leader
for BA English, University of Cumbria.
Author of ‘The Lake Poems of John Wilson’.
10.30am - 11.30am - Talk:
The Background to the Lake Poets
11.30am Coffee and homemade biscuits/cake.
12pm -1pm - Seminar/bookgroup: Reading and
discussion of some of Wordsworth’s poems.
The poems to be discussed will be provided in
advance.
Greta Hall, Keswick
COST: £22
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Piers Brendon
Eminent Elizabethans
In his witty and irreverent style
Piers Brendon takes on four major
figures most representative of
the current Elizabethan age. With
a beady eye and sharp blade he
discusses ‘messianic’ Margaret
Thatcher, ‘polluting’ Rupert
Murdoch, ‘dilettante’ Prince Charles
and ‘gyrating’ Mick Jagger –
the counter-culture rock star who
accepted a knighthood.
Howard Goodall
The Story of Music
A tour through 40,000 years of
music could be dizzying. Awardwinning composer of choral music
(Eternal Light: A Requiem), stage
musicals (Love Story), film and
TV scores (The Vicar of Dibley),
Howard Goodall leads us through
the story of music, breathing life
into accepted ideas of harmony,
notation, orchestra and dance
music. Come and hear a hymn to
human endeavour in a journey from
prehistoric instruments to pop
music.
Main House Day Ticket - £28 for 4 events
(not including 6.30pm event)
2.30pm
Main House
£9
Gerard Lemos
The End of the
Chinese Dream
Tracy Chevalier
Howard Goodall
Distinguished social theorist
and author Gerard Lemos has
conducted hundreds of interviews
that reveal a very different view
of life in twenty-first century
China than that depicted in
glossy television images of happy,
industrious, and increasingly
prosperous workers. Find out
about the starker reality behind
the officially approved story and
discover why Chinese people fear
the future.
4.15pm
Main House
£9
Tracy Chevalier
Writing The Past
6.30pm
Main House
£12 –
to include
event with
the writer
and film
Tracey Chevalier
Vermeer’s
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of
‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, will tell us
about her latest journey into the past
as she brings us another evocative
work of historical fiction. Hear the
story behind ‘The Last Runaway’ set
in the cornfields of rural Ohio during
the final days of slavery.
The inspiration for the story of ‘Girl
with a Pearl Earring’ came to Tracy
Chevalier when she was looking at
a print of Vermeer’s painting in her
home. She was intrigued by the girl’s
expression and realised that she
had the material for her next novel.
The book captured the hearts of
thousands of devoted readers.
7.30pm –
Girl With a Pearl Earring
FILM (cert. 12A)
After a short break, with a book
signing, Tracy Chevalier’s talk will be
followed by a screening of the film.
Thursday 7 March – Studio – Bookcase Day
10.30am
Studio
£8
11.45am
Studio
£8
2pm
Studio
£8
Dr. June Barnes
Childhood in the Lakes
Wordsworth felt that he had been
‘Fostered alike by beauty and by fear’.
In an arresting and original anthology,
June Barnes reveals the realities of
childhood in the Lake District, the
joys and miseries of growing up in
one of the most beautiful and remote
areas of England.
Julia A. Hickey
The Border Ballads
‘The Border Ballads’ tell the
turbulent history of the Debateable
Lands and the cross border fighting
and raiding. Kinmont Willie, Jock of
the Side and Hanging Hobbie are the
heroes of a dramatic and powerful
oral tradition. They gave the words
‘blackmail’ and ‘bereaved’ to the
language.
Stephen Matthews
Charles Dickens and
Wilkie Collins in
Cumberland
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Ian O. Brodie
The Landscape Protection
Movement
In 1894 Manchester Corporation
built Thirlmere Reservoir to supply
water to the city. It was a great feat
of Victorian engineering executed in
the very heart of the Lake District,
but also playing a key role in the
development of the environmental
movement.
5.15pm
Studio
£8
The Friends of
Keswick Museum
and Art Gallery
Keswick Characters, Vol. 3
Keswick has been a magnet for
people of character and ability. The
third volume of this series tells the
lives of another dozen people who
have been part of this small town and
made a significant contribution to
national life. Here are Jacobites and
Suffragettes, soldiers and clergymen,
scientists and novelists.
Dickens and Collins spent six days
in Cumberland in 1857. Collins
sprained his ankle climbing Carrock.
Dickens was impassioned about
meeting Nelly Ternan in Doncaster.
Those six days revealed the essential
character of both men and together
they provided an unsurpassed picture
of Victorian Cumberland in ‘The Lazy
Tour of Two Idle Apprentices’.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Friday 8 March – Studio – Literary Greats
10.30am
Studio
£8
John Batchelor
Tennyson:
to Seek, to Strive, to Find
Tennyson commanded a wider
readership than any other poet of
his age. His influence on literary
culture was decisive, yet his
ascendancy was neither the triumph
of pure genius nor an accident, but
rather a skilfully crafted career.
John Batchelor, former Professor
of English Literature at Newcastle
University, explores the poems,
personal relationships and social
pressures that made the man.
12.15pm
Studio
£8
friend of Beryl Bainbridge for nearly
fifty years. Her illustrated portrait of
Bainbridge’s life and work traces the
close interconnections between her
experiences, writing and painting.
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Psiche Hughes
Beryl Bainbridge:
Artist, Writer, Friend
Beryl Bainbridge, one of our
best-loved novelists, was also a
passionate painter and artist; a
pastime that often helped her
Andrew Wilson
Sylvia Plath
and Life Before Ted
Using previously unavailable archives
and papers and drawing on exclusive
interviews with friends and lovers
who have never spoken openly
about Sylvia Plath before, Andrew
Wilson focuses on Plath’s early
life. Fifty years after her death
he reclaims Plath’s unsettled and
unsettling voice from the tangle
of emotions associated with her
relationship with Ted Hughes.
Ronald Frame
Havisham: a Tribute to
Dickens’ Iconic Character
Award-winning author Ronald
Frame has created a compelling
prequel to ‘Great Expectations’,
telling the story of Miss Havisham’s
early life before her heartbreak.
With a story of privilege, family
names, new money and vulnerability,
Ronald Frame pays tribute to one
of Dickens’ most celebrated and
iconic characters, and discusses
what compelled him to take on such
a task.
2pm
Studio
£8
through moments of troubled
writing. Psiche Hughes was a close
5.30pm
Studio
£8
Michael Baron
The Cockermouth Poets
Local poet Michael Baron has
put together a celebration of the
many poets who have trod the
streets of this Cumbrian town,
whether as residents or guests.
He offers gems from bards of
almost incomprehensible dialect
to droppers-in like Shelley and the
modern readings of Heaney, Motion,
and Duffy.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
Friday 8 March – Main House
11am
Main House
£9
Francis Spufford
The Case for Christianity
12.30pm
Main House
£9
Luke Harding
Russia: Mafia State
2pm
Main House
£9
Posy Simmonds
Mrs Weber’s Omnibus
Posy Simmonds
For the first time, the classic
Guardian cartoon strips that made
Posy Simmonds famous are gathered
together in a complete collection.
Award-winning Posy Simmonds, also
celebrated for ‘Literary Life’ and
‘Tamara Drewe’, discusses parody
and satirical commentary through
drawing.
Francis Spufford
Luke Harding arrived in Moscow,
as the new correspondent for the
Guardian, in 2007. In the beginning
of an aggressive, psychological
campaign, agents of Russia’s security
service (the successor of the KGB)
broke into his flat, tailed him, and
bugged him. Luke Harding tracks the
insidious methods of intimidation
used by a resurgent Kremlin.
Jeremy Bowen
Francis Spufford feels the time has
come for a fierce and witty rebuff
of Dawkins’ and Hitchens’ attacks
on Christianity. He argues that
Christianity is recognisable, drawing
on the deep yet ordinary vocabulary
of human feelings. Believers:
come if you are fed up with being
patronised. Non-believers: come
and find out how faith works in the
modern age.
3.30pm
Main House
£9
5pm
Main House
£9
Jeremy Bowen
On Arab Uprisings
As the BBC’s Middle East Editor,
Jeremy Bowen was on the ground
and witnessed the revolutions and
turmoil that swept through the
Arab world from October 2010
onwards. He lifts the lid on the
brutal police states, tribal loyalty and
the influence of social media during
this remarkable period.
8pm –
10pm
Main House
£12
Jon Ronson
Madness and Mysteries
Jon Ronson is one of the finest
comic writers alive. His fascination
for unusual behavior has landed him
in some remarkable situations with
some extraordinary people. He
talks about his strange encounters,
including a UFO convention (with
Robbie Williams), a man who tried
to split the atom in his kitchen, and
investigating a murder plot in an
Alaskan theme town.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
(not including 8pm event)
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy
and John Sampson
Poetry and Music
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is
that rare creature, an accomplished
poet with great popular appeal.
Her work deals with subjects as
diverse as David Beckham’s Achilles
tendon, volcanoes, ash clouds and
the magic of childhood. Tonight she
is joined by multi-instrumentalist
John Sampson who will entertain
with music played on unusual period
instruments including the crumhorn
and the Chinese silken gourd.
Includes a 30 min. interval.
Saturday 9 March – Main House
Tom Watson
Dial M for Murdoch
Words by the Water / Mirehouse
10th Poetry Competition Event
2pm
Mirehouse
Free (but ticketed)
Blake Morrison, judge of this year’s
poetry competition, will talk about the process
of judging and will introduce the winning poems,
some of which will be read at this event.
This will be followed by Blake Morrison reading
poems from his new book on the Pendle witches.
John Mullan
Polly Toynbee
In 2011, the armour of the Murdoch
empire was finally, dramatically
pierced. Celebrated Murdochscourge Tom Watson MP tells the
full behind-the-scenes story of the
phone hacking scandal and marks
the moment when everything
began to change. Even if you are
familiar with the story, you will be
astonished by this account.
A.C. Grayling
12.30pm
Main House
£9
Ian Cobain
John Mullan, Professor of English at
UCL and weekly columnist for the
Guardian, demonstrates that Jane
Austen can be best appreciated by
asking some specific questions. Who
owned carriages or pianos? What
was the correct way to propose?
In his lively and entertaining
presentation John Mullan throws
out some intriguing topics for
Austenites who are keen to delve
into the intricacy and devilish
cleverness of her fiction.
David Walker
£9
John Mullan
What Matters in
Jane Austen?
Tom Watson
11am
Main House
2.30pm
Main House
£9
4.15pm
Main House
£9
A.C. Grayling
Humanism
Former Professor of Philosophy and
current Master of the New College
of the Humanities, A.C. Grayling
thoroughly and calmly examines all
the arguments offered in support
of religious belief to ask whether
there is an alternative world-view
and code of life for non-religious but
thoughtful people, who wish to live
with intellectual integrity based on
reason, evidence and a desire to do
and be good.
Ian Cobain
Cruel Britannia: A Secret
History of Torture
The official line is clear: the UK
does not ‘participate in, solicit,
encourage or condone torture’
and yet evidence to the opposite is
irrefutable. Drawing on previously
unseen official documents and the
accounts of witnesses, victims and
experts, prize-winning investigative
journalist and a senior reporter
at the Guardian, Ian Cobain looks
beyond the cover-ups to reveal
a secret and shocking record of
torture from WWII to the War on
Terror.
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
(not including 8pm event)
6pm
Main House
£9
Polly Toynbee and
David Walker
Cameron at Half-Time
David Cameron won the last
election by presenting himself as
compassionate, caring and green – a
Tory for the twenty-first century.
Polly Toynbee and David Walker
discuss the unmasked Cameron,
halfway through his first two years
in power. They look at a welfare
state soon to be in tatters, and ask
whether Cameron’s incompetence
might stop his government’s agenda
in its tracks.
8pm –
9.15pm
Main House
£12
Virginia Ironside
Virginia Ironside
Growing Old Disgracefully
Virginia Ironside, doyenne of Fleet
Street, explains that unlimited free
drugs, fun funerals, grandchildren,
sex - or better still no sex - make
your 60s the best time of your
life. This wise and witty onewoman show was premiered at the
Edinburgh Festival in 2009 and has
entertained crowds of all ages since.
Saturday 9 March – Studio – How to Live . . . and Die
11.15am
Studio
£8
Nigel Warburton
Think!
12.45pm
Studio
£8
Melissa Benn
The Battle For
Britain’s Education
Nigel Warburton, a brilliant
philosopher and podcaster,
discusses the ideas and works
of some of the most important
thinkers in history. From Socrates,
Plato, and Aristotle, to the
groundbreaking modern thought
of Wittgenstein and Derrida, he
takes us through two and a half
millennia of western philosophy, and
illuminates its most fascinating ideas.
2.15pm
Studio
£8
Andrew Simms
Cancel the Apocalypse
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Mark Rowlands
Running with the Pack
5.30pm
Studio
£8
Peter Stanford
How to Read a Graveyard
Writer, journalist and campaigner
Melissa Benn has travelled the
UK taking a forensic look at our
education system, from the poorest
comprehensives to the most wellresourced private schools. She gives
her timely and passionate argument
for why quality universal education
is the embodiment of citizenship and
the common good.
Peter Stanford
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
From bad banks to global warming
the future might look hopeless,
but what if everything could turn
out even better than before? In
fascinating and iconoclastic detail,
on everything from the cash in your
pocket to the food on your plate,
‘Tescopoly’ author Andrew Simms
describes our current situation and
shows how the good life could still
remain in our grasp.
Running and philosophising are
inextricably connected. Philosopher
Mark Rowlands has run for most of
his life. As he prepares for a midlife
marathon, he recounts some of the
most significant runs of his life – from
the entire day he spent running as
a boy in Wales, to sprinting up Irish
mountains with his beloved wolf,
Brenin.
Death is the one certainty in life, yet
with the decline of religion in the
West, we have become collectively
reluctant to talk about it. If we want
to know how previous generations
dealt with death, graveyards tell us
the history – if we are able to read
them. Peter Stanford ruminates on
internet memorials, medieval corpse
roads, war graves and our own
mortality.
Sunday 10 March – Studio – Science
10.30am
Studio
£8
Andrew Robinson
The Scientists:
Incredible Lives,
Unbelievable Discoveries
Andrew Robinson, editor of ‘The
Scientists’, gives a fascinating
account of the lives and work
behind the greatest scientific
breakthroughs of all time. From
gravity and natural selection to
synthetic drugs, nuclear power,
brain scanning, the genetic code and
the internet, Andrew Robinson tells
the personal stories of exceptional
men and women.
12.15pm
Studio
£8
Tim Spector
Identically Different:
Why You Can Change
Your Genes
Tim Spector, award-winning
genetics professor, reveals how the
latest genetic research is rewriting
everything we thought we knew
about genes, identity and evolution.
Since the discovery of DNA,
scientists have believed genes are
fixed entities, inherited and unable
to change. But that view itself has
changed to provide a deeper, more
exciting, understanding of how our
genes shape our identities.
Studio Day Ticket - £30 for 5 events
2pm
Studio
£8
Donna Dickenson
God, Mammon and
Biotechnology
It is often believed that science and
religion are implacable foes. Yet Donna
Dickenson, one of the world’s leading
authorities in bioethics, suggests that
what really threatens science isn’t
religion, but commercialization. It’s not
Opus Dei that holds patents on human
genes, but private firms, who can
raise prices beyond what the NHS can
afford. Mammon is the real threat.
3.45pm
Studio
£8
Kathleen Taylor
The Brain Supremacy: The
Frontiers of Neuroscience
Are we really on the verge of being
able to read minds? Kathleen Taylor,
cognitive neuroscientist, reveals the
latest discoveries of brain research
and explores what this new and fast
growing science will mean for us
as individuals, consumers, parents
and citizens. Should we be excited
or alarmed by these impressive
developments?
5.30pm
Studio
£8
Kevin Fong
Life, Death and the Limits
of the Human Body
Kevin Fong is one of the world’s
leading experts on trauma medicine.
He draws on his own experience to
show how cutting-edge technology
is extending the frontiers of human
survival. In probing the very limits of
our own biology, we are exploring
what life is, and what it means to be
human.
Sunday 10 March – Main House
Blake Morrison
The Last Weekend:
Novel and Television Drama
When Blake Morrison, poet,
memoirist (‘And When Did You
Last See your Father’), novelist,
reporter and journalist, published
his latest novel, ‘The Last
Weekend’, ITV decided to serialise
it. How different was the theme
of the television series from the
novel? How did he feel about the
re-imagining of his novel?
Main House Day Ticket - £35 for 5 events
Lindsey Hilsum
Edwina Currie
12.45pm
Main House
£9
Virginia Ironside
The overthrow of Muammar
Gaddafi has been one of the twentyfirst century’s defining moments:
the bizarre dictator brought down
by his own people. Lindsey Hilsum,
Channel 4’s International Editor,
was an eyewitness to the Arab
Spring. She traces the history of
Gaddafi’s regime from its beginnings,
and examines how the Libyan
people found the strength to rebel
and looks to its future.
Ruth Rendell
£9
Lindsey Hilsum
Libya The Revolution and Beyond
Blake Morrison
11am
Main House
2.30pm
Main House
£9
4.15 pm
Main House
£9
Edwina Currie
Politics and Me
The first edition of Edwina Currie’s
diaries revealed her affair with John
Major. The second volume begins
with her refusal to serve in Major’s
cabinet. Edwina Currie continues
her explosive revelations, and tracks
her new incarnation as a bestselling
author, commentator, broadcaster
and performer. (We all remember
‘Strictly Come Dancing’.)
Virginia Ironside
No! I Don’t Need
Reading Glasses
Getting on a bit doesn’t mean giving
up or even growing up. That is the
message of Virginia Ironside’s novel.
Life is good for Marie, her heroine,
but things change. Always insightful,
moving and funny, Virginia Ironside,
thoughtful agony aunt, journalist and
author, offers her views on ageing.
6pm
Main House
£9
Ruth Rendell
Mistress of the Plot
Ruth Rendell has gripped fans for
decades with writing that is elegant
and unflinching. Today she will
talk about her new book, written
under her pen name, Barbara Vine.
‘The Child’s Child’, is a mystery
which explores changing attitudes
to illegitimacy, single parents, and
homosexuality. She discusses what
distinguishes Barbara Vine from Ruth
Rendell and what led her to the use
of two identities.
The 10th Words by the Water
Mirehouse Poetry Competition
COMPETITION THEME:
“I am a part of all that I have met.” (Tennyson)
JUDGE:
Blake Morrison
Poet and fiction writer
Ist Prize £350
In addition, the prize-winning poem and eight
highly commended poems will be displayed on
the Mirehouse Poetry Walk and appear on the
Mirehouse website.
The eight highly commended poets will each
receive a box of new books (value £100).
There will be a reading of some of the
winning poems at an event
with Blake Morrison at Mirehouse on
Saturday 9 March at 2pm. (See this
programme for full event details.)
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY :
• Entries are invited for original poems of no more than 40 lines.
• Entry fee £4.50 per poem.
• Entrants may submit as many poems as they wish.
• No entry should have been accepted for publication, read on
radio/television or stage or have been awarded a prize in any other
competition.
FORMAT FOR ENTRIES :
• Two copies of each poem must be submitted.
• Entries should be typed on one side of paper.
• Entrants must not put names or addresses on the work but
must put name, address and titles of poems on a separate sheet.
• Cheques payable to ‘Words by the Water’ and sent with entries
to:
Mirehouse Poetry Competition, Droridge Farm,
Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6JG
Alternatively the entry poems can be emailed to
[email protected] under the subject heading, Poetry
Competition. If this method of submittimg poems is used it will be
necessary to phone 01803 867373 and pay the entry fee for the
poems by card or else to send a cheque through the post.
Closing Date - Thursday 7 February 2013
Winners notified by Wednesday 27 February 2013
Entrants should enclose an s.a.e. for notification of
results. (Emailed entries will be notified by email.)
Entries cannot be returned.
The Poetry Prize is supported by Mirehouse
to celebrate Mirehouse’s longstanding literary
connections with writers including Wordsworth,
Southey, Tennyson, Carlyle and Thackeray.
Booking and Other Information
In Person
Visit the box office at Theatre by the Lake
open 9.30am – 8.00pm daily.
NB. TICKETS ARE NOT FOR SALE
FROM WAYS WITH WORDS.
Online
Priority Booking
By Phone
Friends of Ways With Words and
Theatre by the Lake can book tickets from
Friday 14 December 2012.
General booking starts on
Wednesday 2 January 2013.
Book online at www.theatrebythelake.co.uk
(N.B. Festival Passes are not available on-line.)
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
Reserved tickets which have not been paid for within
five days or one hour before the performance begins
(whichever is the shorter time) will be offered for
sale again.
Refund and Exchange Policy
If you cannot attend a WBTW event we will offer to
exchange your ticket for another WBTW 2013 event
(subject to availability).
There is a £1 fee per ticket for this service.
If you cannot attend a WBTW event and you are
unable to attend an alternative WBTW 2013 event,
Theatre by the Lake can hold a credit for you against
a future booking for any performance at the theatre.
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 £145 gives entry to all Main
House events on Fri 1 - Tues 5 March inc.
• Festival Pass ‘B’ at £145 gives entry to all Main
House events on Wed 6 - Sun 10 March inc.
Passes can be collected from Theatre by the Lake at
the start of the festival.
Group Bookings
For organisations / groups wishing to bring 10 or
more people to an event a reduction of £1 per ticket
is available. 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 There
Theatre by the Lake is a 5-minute walk from the
centre of Keswick - follow the yellow AA signs
for the festival. There is a pay and display car park
adjacent to the theatre.
Keswick has bus links with Ambleside to the south,
Carlisle to the north, Penrith to the east (to mainline
trains) and Cockermouth and Workington to the
west.
Broaden Your Outlook . . .
As well as the Words by the Water festival, Ways With Words
organises other festivals in the UK and also holiday courses.
For full details of all of these go to wayswithwords.co.uk
or phone 01803 867373 to join our free mailing list.
Fingals Hotel, Dittisham, Devon
Writing and Photography Course
28 April – 3 May 2013
Villa Pia, Umbria, Italy
Writing and Painting Course
21 – 28 September 2013
28 September - 5 October 2013
. . . We hope to see you back in Keswick for Words by the Water 2014
Speakers include:
Simon Armitage
Pat Barker
Melissa Benn
Jeremy Bowen
Melvyn Bragg
Tracy Chevalier
Edwina Currie
Carol Ann Duffy
Michael Frayn
Victoria Glendinning
Howard Goodall
A.C. Grayling
Lindsey Hilsum
Michael Holroyd
Virginia Ironside
Oliver James
Phyllida Law
James Naughtie
Matthew Parris
Ruth Rendell
Jon Ronson
Posy Simmonds
Alexander McCall Smith
Arthur Smith
Jack Straw
Sandi Toksvig
Claire Tomalin
Polly Toynbee
Jenny Uglow
Salley Vickers
Tom Watson
– and more
017687 74411
www.wordsbythewater.org.uk