![(L-R) Charlotte Fairbairn, Lord Cavendish, Lucy Cavendish and Christopher de Bellaigue at the launch of the Lake District Book Festival at Cartmel Racecourse CREDIT Lake District Book Festival [SM 2]](/resources/images/20733154.jpg?type=mds-article-962)
Big names in books, media, academia and entertainment are galloping to Cumbria for the very best kind of party
Visit Antarctica, Africa and Afghanistan; meet Stalin and The Beatles; learn about minerals and medieval history – and enjoy it all without leaving Cumbria. The Lake District Book Festival makes its debut in Cartmel in June with a host of famous names and plenty of lesser-known but no less interesting contributors, all with a story to tell.
Launched in November 2024 at Cartmel Racecourse, courtesy of the Cavendish family of Holker Hall, acclaimed author and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue and co-founder, author and historian Charlotte Fairbairn, pledged to ‘present the Lake District to the world and bring the world to the Lake District’.
Since then, they have been working hard to turn the idea into reality, with festival producer Charlotte organising logistics and director Christopher being given free rein to create the programme for the three-day event from June 12 to 14 this year.
Although they both live in the north of the Lake District, the idea of the festival was borne out of a sense they shared of demand for a book festival in the South Lakeland.
‘We both had this idea independently of one another and it just became part of our general conversations when we were talking to people and asking how they would react to the idea of great authors turning up for three days?,’ Christopher explains. ‘We got such a good response to that very informal sounding out that we went ahead.’
Whilst interest within South Lakeland is expected to be high, they hope audiences will come from across Cumbria, Yorkshire, Lancashire and beyond.
Christopher continues: ‘We want to be part of a general introduction of Cumbria in particular and the North West in general to people in other parts of the country, and indeed other parts of the world. For us, it’s all about place, setting and location, so you start with this wonderful setting, and nowhere could be more beautiful nor more inspiring than Cartmel.’
Cumbria Life has been given a sneak peek into the kind of sessions audiences can expect. Since it is the inaugural event, they have not felt bound to invite authors whose books have come out in the past 12 months as established festivals might.
The list is led by Sebastian Faulks, the novelist best known for the wartime bestsellers, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. ‘I sent him the email and, within five minutes, he got back and said, “Count me in!” He loves the Lake District,’ reveals Christopher.
‘The people we’ve got didn’t need any arm twisting, there’s been no calling in favours or anything like that.
‘No-one needs to be persuaded to come to one of the prettiest places in England and talk to and interact with what we expect to be large and very enthusiastic audiences.’
Sarah Hall and Lee Schofield are among the Cumbria-based authors, but the speakers could not be more local than 2019 MasterChef champion and food writer, Irini Tzortzoglou, who lives in Cartmel.
The village’s history will be explored by Dr Sophie Ambler, reader in medieval history at Lancaster University, who will share her research on William Marshal, the founder of Cartmel Priory. ‘We felt we really needed to pay our respects to Cartmel itself and to this huge, important figure in its history,’ adds Christopher.
Katie Hale, the Cumbrian poet and novelist, will be in conversation with Nick Cox who has 47 years with the British Antarctic Survey, discussing life there and the inspirational qualities of solitude.
‘You can come out of that talk and go into one with economist David McWilliams, who is coming from Ireland to speak about his fascinating book, The History of Money: A Story of Humanity, and a few yards away, you can hear a talk with Lyse Doucet, Jon Lee Anderson and Lindsey Hilsum about Afghanistan.’
Historian, author and television and podcast presenter Lucy Worsley will be there, along with journalist Matt Frei, politician Rory Stewart and Tim Pleydell-Bouverie, author of Allies at War. Michael Heseltine, the former deputy Prime Minister, will be quizzed by his daughter Annabel, and Zeinab Badawi, the former television news presenter and author, will be interviewed by her son.
The first year is something of a test event until their audiences becomes clear.
‘We took a decision to try and be as wide-ranging as possible with an emphasis simply on excellence, and if people are well-known or have an interesting perspective on something, then so much the better.
‘It’s like giving the best kind of party. I don’t want everyone to be the same, I don’t want everyone to have exactly the same perspective on life or histories or personal experiences.
‘We want to engineer this meeting of all different people that, hopefully, will translate into a real sense of excitement and joy.’
Their vision is of a book festival that is not confined entirely to books but includes the spoken word in all its forms.
‘We’ve got a session on the future of Windermere that I think will be extremely well-attended. I’m absolutely fascinated by Barrow-in-Furness, so that’s a chance for causes and subjects of very local character to be discussed on a wider stage with people who are not necessarily local – audiences that have come from a long way away.’
Christopher’s own career spans 25 years and five continents as a journalist, writer and broadcaster on subjects as diverse as loneliness and religious radicalisation, cockfighting in Afghanistan and euthanasia in The Netherlands.
He is currently writing ‘doomladen articles’ about Iran, a country with which he has a long association as a foreign correspondent.
Deeply attached to Iran, he wants to show a different side to that portrayed in news bulletins by bringing an expert in Persian poetry of Iran along with an actor.
‘It will be part performance and part talk, introducing some of the great works of Persian poetry to an audience that probably doesn’t know it very well. We’re doing it because we love the poetry, and also to show people that when you think of Iran, you should look behind the headlines and at this enormous reserve of culture.’
At the launch in 2024 they appealed to potential funders, supporters and volunteers. ‘The response has ranged from very encouraging to beyond our wildest expectations,’ he says.
Around 60 patrons have invested so far.
‘A lot of people have dug into their own personal pockets in order to become founder patrons, and that so many have is a tremendous vote of confidence in us. It also gives us a strong sense of obligation to deliver.’
The festival is also linking up as a charity partner of St Mary’s Hospice, in Ulverston.
A handful of sponsors have signed up and more businesses are being encouraged to come forward to swell what the organisers believe will be a fillip for the local economy.
Food and drink is focused on local suppliers such as Cartmel Cheeses, Eden Yard, Furness Fish, Ginger Bakers, Hawkshead Relish and Sweet Treats by Martin Frickel.
Christopher says: ‘We don’t have ambitions to be like the Hay Festival where you’re talking many tens of thousands of people. We want to explore our capacity so that we’re not one of the biggest literary festivals in Britain, but we’re also not one of the smallest.
‘You need a certain size in order to make a difference to the local economy and also to attract the best writers who want to play to full tents and for the books tent to be heaving so they sell books and have a great time.’
As the festival’s bookseller partner, Al Verey, of Verey Books, in Pooley Bridge, will be hoping for a bumper three days of the festival.
The festival will kick off with an opening party at Cartmel Priory, whose Reverend Nick Devenish was an early ally, along with the Cartmel Village Society and Lucy Cavendish.
lakedistrictbookfestival.co.uk
