The pandemic pinned us all down, fixed us in place, bound us to our homes, our gardens, our neighbourhoods. For many of us, the mountains, seas, rivers and forests became places we could only dream of reaching. Now, at last, people can move once more -- can reach again the landscapes that live deep in their hearts and minds and bodies. So it’s right as can be that this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival takes ‘Movement’ as its theme, celebrating the several rich senses of that word: emotion, physical action, and -- in the month of COP26 -- political change.
The 2021 Literature Festival programme sings and rings with movement of all kinds: through cave-systems and forests, over fell-sides and mountain summits, running, walking and climbing, travelling by train, bike and foot, into Muslim Europe and the future of ice on Earth. Voices join us from India, South Africa and Europe, raised in celebration, exploration and passionate defence of the natural world and our part in it. Come, lend an ear, be moved