The Kendal Mountain Book Festival has become an integral and rapidly growing part of the main Mountain Festival and 2007 is shaping up to be another unmissable year.
The International Festival of Mountain Literature moves to Kendal this year with an event titled ‘When is Adventure Madness?’ on Saturday 10 November. Hosted by Terry Gifford, this is a day packed with live music, readings, discussions, conversations and debates plus an accompanying book fair. Guest speakers include Jeff Long, Clint Willis and Mikel Vause from the USA, Geoff Powter (Canada) plus Tony Streather, Charles Lind, John Porter, Ed Douglas, Vicki Robinson, Ian Smith and Jan Levi.
Also on Saturday 10 November Ed Douglas chairs a discussion between three of the best nature writers working in English today - Richard Mabey, Kathleen Jamie and the US best-selling author John Vaillant - about their work and their relationship with the natural world.
Bill Birkett launches his latest book, Scafell - Portrait of a Mountain, with readings and conversation at Kendal Library on Wednesday 14 November with tickets available via the library.
Colin Wells sets out to prove that mountain writing is alive and well and full of new talent, chairing a ‘Cutting Edge’ event on Thursday 15 November featuring three climbers fast building their reputations on paper - Andy Kirkpatrick, Nick Bullock and Jan Levi. On the same day one of Britain’s most revered and popular mountaineers, Doug Scott CBE provides a rare insight into his writing and those writers who have inspired him both to write and to climb in conversation with Andrew Miles.
With the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature now hosted in Kendal, a special retrospective is planned at lunchtime on Friday 16 November including contributions from previous BT winners Al Alvarez, Andy Cave and Greg Child chaired by Ed Douglas. The winner of the 2007 prize will also be announced on Friday at a presentation sponsored by the BMC. This year’s judging panel is Lord Chris Smith (Chair), Alison Fell and Tim Noble. On Saturday 17 November Doug Scott and Chris Bonington will recall their climbs of Kangchenjunga, Kongur and other major climbs with Pete and Joe, 25 years after they vanished on Everest. Brothers John Boardman and Paul Tasker will read some of their favourite writing.
For more information on all these events and more, visit the Festival website
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