14/06/2022
Crossing the Tees Book Festival is supported by funding from Arts Council England and brought to you by the library services for Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Darlington and Redcar & Cleveland.
The Women Who Saved the English Landscape with Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly traces the history of landscape preservation through the lives of four remarkable women: Octavia Hill, Beatrix Potter, Pauline Dower, and Sylvia Sayer. From the commons of London to the Lake District, Northumberland, and Dartmoor, these women protected the English landscape at a crucial period through a mixture of environmental activism, networking, and sheer determination.
About The Women Who Saved the English Countryside:
A vibrant history of English landscape preservation over the last 150 years, told through the lives of four remarkable women.
In Britain today, a mosaic of regulations protects the natural environment and guarantees public access to green spaces. But this was not always so. Over the last 150 years, activists have campaigned tirelessly for the right to roam through the countryside and the vital importance of preserving Britain’s natural beauty.
Matthew Kelly traces the history of landscape preservation through the lives of four remarkable women: Octavia Hill, Beatrix Potter, Pauline Dower, and Sylvia Sayer. From the commons of London to the Lake District, Northumberland, and Dartmoor, these women protected the English landscape at a crucial period through a mixture of environmental activism, networking, and sheer determination.
They grappled with the challenges that urbanization and industrial modernity posed to human well-being as well as the natural environment. By tirelessly seeking to reconcile the needs of particular places to the broader public interest they helped re-imagine the purpose of the English countryside for the democratic age.
Wednesday 15 June | 2.00pm | Cockerton Library, Darlington
The Ghost Lake & more with Wendy Pratt
Hear award-winning poetry and eco-writing from author Wendy Pratt, whose latest work The Ghost Lake explores the landscape of the Yorkshire Moors. She is the editor in chief of Spelt magazine, which seeks to validate and celebrate the rural experience through poetry and creative non-fiction Her collection When I Think Of My Body As A Horse centres around the experience of infertility and baby loss with a wider focus on body ownership and motherhood.
Wednesday 15 June | 3.15pm | Cockerton Library, Darlington
Stephanie Butland
Stephanie Butland’s writing career began with her memoir. ‘Thrive: The Bah! Guide to Wellness After Cancer’. Since then she has written another memoir, ‘Thrive’, about wellness after cancer, and six novels, including beloved bookshop tale ‘Lost For Words’. Come and be comforted and entertained by her words; they are full of heart.
About Lost For Words:
Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look closely, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are things she’ll never show you.
Fifteen years ago Loveday lost all she knew and loved in one unspeakable night. Now, she finds refuge in the unique little York bookshop where she works.
Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past. Someone is trying to send her a message. And she can’t hide any longer.
Lost for Words is a compelling, irresistible and heart-rending novel, with the emotional intensity of The Shock of the Fall and all the charm of The Little Paris Bookshop and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Wednesday 15 June | 4.30pm | Cockerton Library, Darlington
Fiction to Face your Fears workshop with Stephanie Butland
We know that journaling can help support good mental health – but have you considered that writing fiction could be good for you too? Come along to this friendly, participative workshop and learn storytelling tools to support your wellness.
Buy your copy of Lost for Words, and more of Stephanie’s books, from our official festival bookseller DRAKE the Bookshop.
Find the whole list of festival books here.
About Lost For Words:
Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look closely, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are things she’ll never show you.
Fifteen years ago Loveday lost all she knew and loved in one unspeakable night. Now, she finds refuge in the unique little York bookshop where she works.
Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past. Someone is trying to send her a message. And she can’t hide any longer.
Lost for Words is a compelling, irresistible and heart-rending novel, with the emotional intensity of The Shock of the Fall and all the charm of The Little Paris Bookshop and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Wednesday 15 June | 6.30pm | Cockerton Library, Darlington
The Walking Library with Professor Dee Heddon (Darlington)
As Festival week draws to a close, we bring you two chances to explore together the wildness of our urban environments with Professor Dee Heddon’s ‘Walking Libraries’.
The Walking Library is a library that carries books by foot, a creative research project brings books, reading, and walking into unexpected and dynamic relationships.
The books you’ll read from on these walks range wildly from those which help us see what is sometimes overlooked or under-acknowledged – for example, the variety of wild things growing in vacant lots or the secret lives of pigeons – to dystopian apocalyptic fiction where cities are destroyed but nature survives.
Meet outside the café at South Park Darlington at 11.30am.
Friday 17 June | 11.30am | South Park Café Darlington
General Information
Booking Information
Booking is essential unless otherwise stated.
To book online
Choose the events on our what’s on page and book online.
To book over the phone
Please call ARC Stockton Art Centre’s Box Office on: 01642 525199
To book in person
Please visit ARC Stockton Arts Centre’s Box Office, 60 Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL
Refunds
Unfortunately refunds and exchanges are not available.
General
Booking is essential for all events. Please book your place online, at ARC’s Box Office or over the phone.
