posted on 18/11/2009

Book events at Kendal

books at kendal - revelations
This year's Kendal Mountain Festival sees a series of fascinating and inspiring lectures as some of climbing's greatest characters look to put their lives into books for the first time. Each lecture will feature talks and readings from these books followed by live on-stage interviews. This will be followed by a questions and answers session from the audience. All in all these will provide a fascinating insight into these great characters in a special and intimate setting. All events take place at the Parish Hall, and all for only £5. Don't miss them.

The selection kicks off on Friday right after the announcement of the Boardman-Tasker prize with Jerry Moffatt: A Ghost Story. Jerry will be joined on stage by his ghost writer Niall Grimes and together they will tell the stories and look behind the scenes of their book Revelations, which recently picked up the Grand Prize at the highly-prestigious Banff Mountain Festival. The event takes place at 5.30pm on Friday 20th at the Parish Hall, Kendal. Read an extract from Revelations here, and get your tickets here.

On Saturday 21st, Steve House will be appearing at Beyond the Boyond, from 2pm at the Parish Hall. In this, Steve will give readings from his new Boardman-Tasker-nominated book, Beyond the Mountain. The talk will be very much in the mould of other book event lectures, as it will also feature an on-stage interview, hosted by UKClimbing's Jack Geldard, and the audience will get to ask Steve their own questions. Read an extract from Beyond the Mountain here, and get your tickets here.

Saturday evening at 8pm we have the one and only Johnny Dawes. The Cosmic Rascal will be reading from his long awaited autobiography, and will then be interviewed by Niall Grimes. Buy tickets here.

On Sunday 22nd, one of the true heroes of British mountain rescue, John Allen, will deliver a lecture based around his new autobiography, Cairngorm John. John spent over thirty years saving lives in the savage and beautiful north-east highlands, and his stories are by turn tragic, heroic and enlightening. A must for anyone who has ventured into the hills. Read an extract of Cairngorm John here, and get your tickets here.

Finally, Sunday sees the highlight of the events with a fascinating panel discussion, Representing our World, where four of the most prominent creative souls in the outdoor world gather to discuss what they do and why and how they go about it. Get a true behind-the-scenes look at what makes Andy Kirkpatrick, Alan James, John Beatty and Andy Parkin tick. You've laughed along at their comedy, been wowed by their photographs, moved by their art and inspired by their guidebooks. Now, in this intimate question and answers session, come and find your own inspiration in their ideas. Buy tickets here.

Read the BMC's Kendal press release here.
By Niall Grimes