Words By The Water Keswick

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Words By The Water Keswick Words by the Water is a 5-day Festival of Words and Ideas, held March 10th-14th 2027 at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria.

Visit www.wordsbythewaterkeswick.com to join our mailing list and follow us on facebook & instagram for all the latest updates

What we've plucked from our 'TBR' pile this week...Rachel: ‘May We Feed the King’ by Rebecca PerryThis perfectly sized, ...
12/10/2026

What we've plucked from our 'TBR' pile this week...

Rachel: ‘May We Feed the King’ by Rebecca Perry
This perfectly sized, beautifully written novel is set in dual eras and urges us to think about truth, reality and the nature of storytelling.

Lucy: ‘Malc's Boy’ by Shaun Wilson.
This brave novel is an auto-fiction account of Shaun's upbringing in Wigton, where his father, Malc, ran some local pubs. It explores themes such as class, violence and masculinity and is experimental in form. I love Shaun's mastery of dialect and find the book shocking, funny and thought-provoking.

Jane: ‘Hotel du Lac’ by Anita Brookner
I am 80 pages into this beautifully constructed story. The love interest has appeared, and the hotel residents are closely observed by romantic novelist Edith Hope. Hermione Lee’s biography of the author – Anita Brookner: Art and Life has just been published, and I am curious to find out more about her.

Mary: ‘Moonlight Express’ by Monica Rajesh
My WBTW 2026 purchase! Recommended if like me, you are someone who enjoys the journey and who you meet on the way just as much as the destination.

What are your current fave reads?

Love from the WBTW team x

🎉📣 Author Announcement 📣🎉We are delighted to be welcoming the Women's Prize-shortlisted and bestselling author Natalie H...
07/10/2026

🎉📣 Author Announcement 📣🎉

We are delighted to be welcoming the Women's Prize-shortlisted and bestselling author Natalie Haynes, to Words by the Water 2027.

Natalie Haynes will be leading us on a razor-sharp romp through the monsters we know, love and fear from the fable stories of the ancient world.

From snaky Echidna – mother of monsters – to the fearsome Minotaur, the strange and terrible creatures of Greek Myths have been grabbing our attention for thousands of years. In 'Irresistible Monsters', passionate classicist Natalie turns her inimitable gaze on the inhuman and reveals that even the things we thought we knew aren’t necessarily so: a Cyclops doesn’t always have one eye, and Cerberus doesn’t start out with three heads.

Along the way, she examines how we think about monsters: what makes a monster, and why do we need them? Do they subvert the world as we know it, or subtly reinforce our expectations? Is a monster human or animal, mortal or divine? And how do you defeat a multi-headed snake when it has a giant crab as its henchman?

Exact dates, timings and booking details will be released in December.

Theatre by the Lake Natalie Haynes: Stand Up Classicist Bookends Keswick

Thanks so much to everyone who has responded to our recent callouts for chairpersons, volunteers and potential sponsors....
05/10/2026

Thanks so much to everyone who has responded to our recent callouts for chairpersons, volunteers and potential sponsors. We are still looking for all 3 – so there’s still plenty of time to get in touch.

This month, we are particularly interested in hearing from volunteer drivers who can help out over the festival weekend, picking authors and guests up from the train station and getting them to and from accommodation or the festival venue. A full and clean driving licence is required, and a thorough briefing will be provided.

If this sounds like you, please get in touch with Mary at [email protected]

While we are busy programming we thought it might be nice to introduce you to a few of the people behind the scenes - th...
11/09/2026

While we are busy programming we thought it might be nice to introduce you to a few of the people behind the scenes - the book lovers who help bring the festival together!

In the first of our series of team introductions, we say hello to Jane Fitzgerald, who is the festival’s Creative Director...

Jane joined the Words by the Water team in 2014 after five years of editing Devon Life magazine and has been involved in most of the WTBW festivals since. Initially working with Kay Dunbar, the founder of Ways with Words, who she describes as 'an inspirational mentor and delightful risk taker', Jane learned the nuts and bolts of programming a festival. She has programmed events in the Studio at the Theatre by the Lake since 2016, and now in tandem with Lucy, she is programming the Main House too.

“When I was working for Ways With Words we were running annual festivals in Dartington, Southwold and Keswick. Words by the Water was (and still is) my favourite, largely down to the people I work with here in Cumbria - the theatre and bookshop staff, the diligent chair people and the valiant volunteers. They are all amazing. I love the feeling that the Theatre by the Lake is part and parcel of life – a stopping place for ideas, for walks, for books, for meetings with friends and unexpected encounters.”

It’s a family affair. Jane’s daughter Florence, an independent producer, works for the festival and is to be seen with her clipboard making sure writers are where they should be and have all they need; her husband Richard also volunteers, driving writers back and forth from Penrith to Keswick.

Jane lives in South Devon, paints in oils when she can and works as a flower arranger at the National Trust’s Coleton Fishacre.

Bookends Keswick

Always keen to support local writers, our team can regularly be found enjoying themselves at book launches. And when it ...
09/09/2026

Always keen to support local writers, our team can regularly be found enjoying themselves at book launches. And when it happens to be one of our patrons, you can be sure we’ll be out in full force!

Carlisle-based crime-writer M.W. Craven released The Killer’s Mark last month and our Comms Director Rachel, turned it into a family affair, by taking her mum to the The New Bookshop event at Kirkgate Arts & Heritage and her daughter to the Bookends Carlisle event at The Halston.

It was great to see so much support for Mike and the latest instalment in his Tilly and Poe series. And not only did we get to ask a question on the roving mic, but there was also merch!

We were hugely touched by Mike's dedication in The Killer's Mark to the legendary Gwenda Matthews who was (and always will be) a huge part of Words by the Water ❤

ps. It's the best book in the series yet! We're already counting down to the next one.

While you wait for our WBTW2027 programme to be announced, why not pop over to our friends at Borderlines Carlisle and c...
07/09/2026

While you wait for our WBTW2027 programme to be announced, why not pop over to our friends at Borderlines Carlisle and check out their Oct / November line-up. Tickets went on sale last week and events are already selling out so get in quick.

Local heroes, national and international names, a children's event and a chance to share your own poetry and an open mic night...

See below for booking details and full line-up.

A call-out for chairs (no, not the ones with 4 legs and a cushion) 🤣Our festival always attracts lots of great authors a...
07/09/2026

A call-out for chairs (no, not the ones with 4 legs and a cushion) 🤣

Our festival always attracts lots of great authors and we’re lucky to have the support of some very kind, generous and talented people who have chaired our events over the years. (You know who you are... )

As regular festival-goers will know, the secret to a good event is often the chemistry between the author and their chairperson. It can make or break a session.

Our programming team pride themselves on pairing up the right people, and, as our programme diversifies, we are keen to grow our pool of talented contacts.

We’d love to hear from people who have an interest in specific fields, areas, or genres. And don’t worry if you have little or no experience as we’re offering full training and support.

Drop us a note if you’d like to find out more by emailing [email protected]

Lee Child University of Cumbria Cumbria Uni English Bookends Keswick Cumbria Arts and Culture Network Bookends Carlisle

GRATITUDE ALERT! (AND A LITTLE CALL OUT FOR HELP!)We have been incredibly lucky over the years to be supported by some v...
11/08/2026

GRATITUDE ALERT! (AND A LITTLE CALL OUT FOR HELP!)

We have been incredibly lucky over the years to be supported by some very kind people who give up their time to volunteer. As a small independent festival, we simply couldn’t survive without the help of these individuals and we are eternally grateful.

At the last festival, we trialled a slightly new approach to volunteering with great results and we are delighted to be refining these processes and roles ready for 2027.

If you would like to join our friendly team, please drop us a line and register your interest (no obligation at this point). Roles will be defined and allocated nearer the time and full training will be provided.

To register your interest please contact Mary at [email protected] with your name and contact details with VOLUNTEER in the header.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Theatre by the Lake Bookends Keswick

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Anne Oxborough who recently passed away.Anne was a trusted chairperson a...
07/08/2026

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Anne Oxborough who recently passed away.

Anne was a trusted chairperson and skilled interviewer at Words by the Water and Ways With Words, where she served as a director, and loved taking part in the festivals with her partner David. As an interviewer, speakers were in safe hands: her research was meticulous and she combined probing, sensitive questioning with a deft humour. Many of you will remember her warmly interviewing Kerry Irving and his dogs in the Theatre by the Lake Main House, an event which she took great delight in.

Anne was a former Assistant Principal of Exeter Tertiary College and later Chair of Governors of the Exeter Maths School and was awarded an OBE for services to Further Education In 2013.

She will be hugely missed and our thoughts are with her husband David and family.

Bookends Keswick

As well as working hard on shaping our blossoming programme (details will be announced later this year) we've also been ...
06/08/2026

As well as working hard on shaping our blossoming programme (details will be announced later this year) we've also been growing our team.

We are delighted to welcome the wonderful Mary Elliott. Previous festival goers may recognise Mary as she is not only a long-time resident of Keswick but is also Customer Experience Manager at Theatre by the Lake. Mary will continue in her role at the theatre while supporting Words by the Water with Operations as Festival Producer on a part-time basis.

A beacon of calm in a chaotic world, Mary brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, and we are thrilled that she will be joining us.

Watch this space over coming weeks as we introduce you to more members of the WBTW team.

Bookends Keswick

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Keswick

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