The Fairfield Horseshoe is one of the classic routes in the Lake District

A walk on field paths through quiet hamlets to Orrest Head, where Alfred Wainwright began his love affair with the Lake District mountains

The views from the top are superb with the Lakeland fells on one side and the Howgills on the other

A walk on field paths through quiet hamlets to Orrest Head, where Alfred Wainwright began his love affair with the Lake District mountains

Two castles, a 13th century Parish Church regarded as one of the UK’s “Great Churches”, and a woodland favoured by the locals for their Sunday afternoon walks during Victorian times are just some of the highlights of this walk which never takes you further than a mile from the town centre.

The alter-ego of Alfred Wainwright, the famous Lakeland Guidebook writer and creator of the famous Coast to Coast walk (voted the 2nd most favourite walk in the world), will be presenting his talk to the festival!

A most interesting walk without significant ascent, along mainly the towpath of the Lancaster Canal and former Kendal Canal

The horseshoe at the head of the Kent valley is one of the great walks of the Lake District

We travel by train to Burneside where we pick up the Dales Way northwards, along a pretty stretch of the River Kent, through flowery meadows

We will follow the northern reaches from Crooklands to Kendal along the tow path or through pleasant countryside with the occasional canal bridge standing incongruously in open pasture

This walk from the centre of Kendal takes us through the site of the original castle to visit an impressive monument and then up onto the dramatic landscape feature of Scout Scar with it’s stunning westerly views of the Kent Estuary

Starting from Tebay, we ascend to Blease Fell for a splendid view of the Lune Valley where the river is shared with the M6 and the main line railway

Starting from Kendal College the walk heads south along the banks of the River Kent, before turning westwards to Sizergh Castle and Helsington Church

A wildlife focused hike over farmland, open fell, woodland and two Wainwrights

A steady climb by field and track from Windermere takes us to the ridge of Sour Howes and Sallows, where we will be rewarded with fine views of the high fells

A part coastal walk from the attractive village of Arnside with an ascent of Arnside Knott

A fine ridge walk with views over the Lakeland Fells, the Howgills, Ingleborough and Morecambe Bay

The Helm provides a superb, easily accessible 360 degree panorama of the South Lakes and Kendal

Start your festival experience with an open mic event, hosted by Waterstones, Kendal.

£45 includes access to all events at the festival

Especially for our very youngest poetry audiences, Poetry Rhyme Time offers classic poems and rhyming stories for under 5s, their families and carers.

Join us in Kendal’s beautiful town centre library to read and discuss contemporary poetry in a friendly group environment.

Hafsah Aneela Bashir is an award winning writer and performance poet who will be reading from her debut collection, The Celox and the Clot

A Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow, Jackie Hagan is a multi award winning playwright, poet and comedian and a council estate queer amputee.

This workshop will explore what happens when we let different voices into our writing.

Join us at this unique event for afternoon tea with a big helping of South Cumbria’s finest contemporary poetry

Everyone is welcome to the Festival Launch for a celebratory glass of wine, and the opportunity to meet our volunteers, readers, Festival Directors, invited guests and members of Brewery Poets.

Moniza Alvi’s eight collections include The Country at My Shoulder (OUP, 1993) shortlisted for the Whitbread and the T.S. Eliot poetry prizes and At the Time of Partition (Bloodaxe, 2013) also shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.

Sat 20 Jun | 10am-1pm | £16.50 | Castle Room The art of listening…

Ian Humphrey’s first full-length collection Zebra (Nine Arches, 2019) takes in 1980’s gay culture and multi-racial heritage.

The blank page is a field of possibilities. But, let’s face it, it’s intimidating. How do we put those first lines down, in order to have something to work with?

Vahni Capildeo’s seven books and five pamphlets extend from prose poetry into immersive theatre.

Spark’s magic can transform anything. He’ll turn the bogeys up his nose into pink ribbons and bows. He’ll make a gorgeous high heeled shoe out of a pile of donkey poo. But terrible things have started to happen in his forest – wasps, werewolves, spells going disastrously wrong…

In The Queer Art of Failure (Duke University Press, 2011), Jack Halberstam argues that since success is always measured by patriarchal and heterosexual standards, the failure to live up to such norms can offer a new freedoms and possibilities

Fiona Benson’s latest collection Vertigo and Ghost (Jonathan Cape, 2019) won the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the Roehampton Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.

Ann Grant returns with the Late Night Open Mic – a festival favourite, this year with the addition of guest poet Jackie Hagan.

Poetry is often most interesting when it lets go of the side of the pool. When the poem has to improvise to stay afloat. In those panicky moments the unconscious might express itself.

Mary Jean Chan’s first full-length collection Flèche (Faber and Faber 2019) was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards for Poetry. Chan’s work explores themes of multilingualism, queerness, psychoanalysis and the complexities of maternal relationships.

Jonathan Davidson’s newly published collection, A Commonplace (Smith|Doorstop 2020), is unusual in containing not only his own work but also ‘guest poems’ by nearly a dozen other poets

Moniza Alvi has been drawn to the strangeness and clarity of Stevie Smith’s poetry for many years, and with her experience as a writer and the discovery of the full range of Smith’s poetry she increasingly appreciated it, and is now researching the poet’s life and work at UEA.

Vicki Feaver will be reading from her much anticipated fourth collection I Want! I Want! (Jonathan Cape, 2020). Her new work examines the voicelessness of girlhood and the fears of ageing with writing that is urgent, accessible and deeply moving.