Radio 4 presenter Roger Bolton will be appearing at this year’s Borderlines Book Festival in Carlisle.
The Carlisle-born Feedback presenter is a last-minute addition to the programme and will be interviewed by local bookseller Steve Matthews at the Crown & Mitre Hotel on October 2 at 2.45pm.
Roger will be chatting about his memoir Made in Carlisle, which describes growing up in the city between the Second World War and the emergence of the Beatles.
Describing it as “a sort of love letter” the book talks about a time before television, mobile phones and dishwashers, when horse drawn carts brought vegetables and errand boys brought meat and fish and when no-one had even heard of cannabis.
He talks about his proudest achievement (being made boy captain of Denton Holme Primary School), being picked as goalkeeper for the Carlisle Youth Team (they lost) and his flirtation with the idea of becoming a priest (until he discovered girls…).
Tickets are £10.
Roger joins a diverse group of authors and writers at the festival, many of whom have connections to the local area.
This year’s festival boasts a celebration event to mark Dorothy Wordsworth’s 250th anniversary with Dr Penny Bradshaw and Polly Atkin, food critic and writer Grace Dent and Stan Abbott explores the Carlisle to Settle Railway Line with his book ‘Walking the Line.’
On Sunday, at the Tithe Barn, there’s a trio events that will appeal to nature lovers and those who are passionate about the outdoors.
The festival has introduced a special day ticket at £20 for all three events.
Jim Crumley will be talking about his book Lakeland Wild at 11.30am in an event sponsored by University of Cumbria.
At 2pm, Hannah Jackson – The Red Shepherdess – tells her story.
Hannah, a lambing and farming contractor, TV personality, and one of the farming industry’s youngest and most influential role models has appeared on BBC One’s Countryfile and regularly advocates for the farming community.
Her memoir describes how she broke the stereotypes of her Liverpudlian “townie” childhood, faced up to life’s challenges and followed her dreams with hard graft to become a shepherd with her own flock of sheep on an idyllic Cumbrian farm.
At 4pm, Samantha Walton is In Search of a Nature Cure with her book Everybody Needs Beauty.
Tickets are priced at £10 individually or £20 for all three.
The Borderlines Team are also offering a specially priced ticket deal for events featuring acclaimed authors Arifa Akbar and Pragya Agarwal: Arifa and Pragya will talk about illness, family dynamics, and the complicated choices surrounding motherhood. Tickets are priced £12 for both, or £8 individually.
In the run up to the festival, organisers will also be hiding featured books around the city with the chance to win a free ticket to the relevant event. See their facebook page for details.
Borderlines Carlisle Book Festival, celebrating the written and spoken word, will run from Thursday September 30 to Sunday October 3, with a satellite event on October 10.
It features well-known names such as Ruth Jones, Alan Johnson, Grace Dent, Caitlin Davies and Paula Hawkins, as well as a host of other top class internationally acclaimed and diverse authors and writers.
The festival will have a distinctly Cumbrian flavour incorporating new titles and new faces, as well as a handful of much-loved favourites. As well as author events and panel discussions, there will be a series of creative workshops and a poetry breakfast. Selected events will be live streamed.
For full programme details, more information and to buy tickets, visit www.borderlinescarlisle.co.uk
Tickets can also be bought in person at Bookends Carlisle in Castle Street.
Borderlines 2021 is supported by Tullie House Museum, Cumbria Life and Bookends and by festival sponsors Carlisle City Council, Eric Hagan Opticians, University of Cumbria and Architects Plus.
