Words by the Water will return to Keswick this year.
The literary festival, which has attracted big name authors, politicians, comedians, poets and thousands of people since it was set up in 2001, was last held in 2022 and organisers said they would be unable to continue after the challenges of COVID-19.
But now, the event, which has attracted thousands of people to Keswick, will return to Theatre by the Lake for five days from Wednesday June 5 to Sunday June 9.
An exciting development in the future of the festival is a new partnership between independent local bookshop Bookends and the festival organiser Leah Varnell.
Bookends director Lucy Matthews said: “For over 20 years, selling books at the Words by the Water festival has been an annual highlight for Bookends.
“We know how much our customers look forward to Words by the Water in Keswick so we are delighted to welcome the festival back to the community. We will have a very different role this year as, not only will we be selling books at the festival, we will also be organising and running the festival alongside Leah.
“We are thrilled to be working in partnership like this and believe this year will just be the start of a wonderful new era of Words by the Water.”
Leah added: “It has been a really challenging few years in the arts but we are absolutely thrilled to be back in full force to share ideas and bring the Words by the Water festival community back together. I’m looking forward to June and hope to see lots of familiar and new faces at the festival in Keswick.”
Simon Stephens, executive director of Theatre by the Lake, added: ‘Words by the Water has always been an extremely popular event at the theatre and we know audiences have missed it in recent years. We’re really excited for the return of the festival and to be hosting a truly wonderful celebration of literature once again here at Theatre by the Lake.”
There will be a pre-festival event for fans of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana and the 44 Scotland Street series, as much-loved author Alexander McCall Smith takes centre stage at the theatre on Friday May 10.
He will be discussing his brand new novel series, The Perfect Passion Company, with BBC journalist Helen Millican. Tickets for this event are now on sale.
Tickets for the festival will go on sale on Monday April 15 at noon for Best Friends (and above) of Theatre by the Lake and Thursday April 18 at noon for Friends.
Public booking opens on Monday April 22.
