We entered the small quaint church in St Endelllion, for the service Meditation on Migration hosted by poet, Kate Clanchy. It is a Sunday morning in the village church. The sun touched the stain glass windows with fragility and harshness – perhaps a metaphor for things to come. The service began with an introduction, prayers […]
‘I’m actually scared shitless of the water,’ Philip Hoare confesses to the crowd, giving us our first indication of how terrifying the sea is, especially for an author who swims in it every day. However, Hoare balances this perspective with how the ocean – in all its unknown depths – is an endless source of […]
Neil discusses silence and solitude in his new nature book, The Last Wilderness, which looks at 5 walking journeys in North West Scotland. He portrays wilderness and wildlife working together in harmony. Neil’s passion for nature has always been with him, saying it was his “childhood obsession”, and that he “doesn’t remember a time when […]
Today I have learned plenty from my place as a spectator in the workshops at North Cornwall Book Festival. Steph Haxton taught me everything from making a little book by folding paper, to publishing one. But what sticks with me the most is the children I have spoken to, and how they are still incredibly […]
As the first day of the North Cornwall Book Festival came to an end, the remaining guests, visitors and students gathered in the marquee. The marquee really set the scene for this event, with its colourful illustrations of exotic birds and beautifully patterned cloth which spiraled up above our heads. The front row seats were […]
Author, historian, and illustrator, Steph Haxton, demonstrates homemade bookmaking with local school children and delves into the Cornish history behind her novels. Her published novels; ‘Exposed to All Villainies’, ‘A Cord of Three Strands’, and ‘To Untie a Sealed Knot’ are available to buy through the Padstow Bookseller. “Because my novels aren’t the sort of […]
In the beautiful church of St. Endellion, the lively and charismatic “classical-scholar-turned-stand up-comedian-turned-writer” Natalie Haynes presented the pupils of local schools with a detailed and humorous retelling of Sophocles’ Athenian tragedy “Oedipus the King”. Natalie engrossed both pupils and teachers alike by drawing correlations between Ancient Greek tragedy and British soap operas, coining the phrase […]