Maryport Literary Festival brings a range of voices to the town

The three-day event at Senhouse Roman Museum has the theme ‘voices in the land’. It aims to explore how place influences biography, and whether places hold a ‘charge’ of the people who came before.

Events include writers exploring Cumbrian roots, growing up in the USA, a mystery novel set partly in Jerusalem, and finding the power of nature in a corner of London and Denmark.

Friday will begin with an exploration of outdoor writing when author and Cumberland News columnist Vivienne Crow discusses her career and leads a workshop.

Caroline Gilfillan and Zosia Wand will talk about their novels rooted in Cumbrian places.

Eliza Harrison, best known as Eliza Forder for her book Hill Shepherd, takes a new direction as a novelist with The Mystery of Martha, set in Jerusalem and Cumbria.

On Saturday bestselling author, and one-time Cumbrian farmer, Philip Walling will return to his roots to talk about the influence of landscape on his writing in his books Counting Sheep and Till the Cows Come Home.

In his novel Two Days in May, David Clemson explores the catastrophic train crash at Quintinshill which marked the landscape close to Carlisle so deeply, as troops travelled to the Western Front during the First World War.

American actress, author, playwright and producer Susan Merson will discuss her recent biography Dreaming in Daylight, about growing up in a Jewish community in the USA. She will also lead a scriptwriting and drama workshop.

Sunday will see a morning poetry workshop with renowned Hebridean poet James Knox Whittet.

Karen Lloyd journeys around Morecambe Bay in all seasons in a triumph of nature writing, while Angus Winchester’s book Landscape and Inspiration will explore his love of the Cumbrian landscape.

Retired GP Jim Cox, author of Who Shot Percy Toplis?, will talk about the ‘Monocled Mutineer’, his work as a writer and his experiences as a rural GP in a Cumbrian rural practice.

Festival organiser Angela Locke will talk about her Search Dog books which were best sellers and translated into 14 languages, and her 12 years working with the Search and Rescue Dog Association.

The festival concludes with a poetry reading by several poets, accompanied by the Gaelic music of singer Anna MacCrae who will make the trip from her home on the Isle of Barra.

The festival runs from Friday November 15 until Sunday November 17. All events cost £5. The festival is funded by an Arts Council England grant. The full programme and detailed information about each event can be seen at www.SenhouseMuseum.co.uk