Kirkby Lonsdale Poetry Festival 

We are working to establish an annual poetry festival in Kirkby Lonsdale, with the backing of the Christopher Robins Charitable Trust. This year we are also working with BBC Contains Strong Language festival which is showcasing the best spoken word in Cumbria. 

This year’s poetry festival will go ahead, despite restrictions, in a condensed form. 

Kate Fox
See Kate Fox at Kirkby Lonsdale Poetry Festival. Image by Kate Fox

Ruskin’s View Revisited 

Ruskin’s View has always been a focus of the town and many use it as creative inspiration. Tourists photograph it, Ruskin and Turner immortalized it and locals are inspired by it every single day. 

A brand new commission invites four celebrated Cumbrian poets to provide their unique take on the scene.  

Katie Hale, Hannah Hodgson, Matt Sowerby and Karen Lloyd will be recording their specially commissioned poems for broadcast on special mythograms- (think funky versions of the gramophone!)

The poems will be played out at Ruskin’s View on Saturday 23rd September and we’d love you to come along and hear them. There will be painters too, providing their interpretation of the famous view.And at 3.30 we hope to have the poets live at the scene performing their work.  

You can also hear interviews with the poets on BBC Radio the same day.    

Ruskin's View, Kirkby Lonsdale

Kate Fox – Bigger on the Inside Show 

Poet and comedian Kate Fox once thought receiving a positive diagnosis for autism had as much a chance of happening as a female Doctor Who. But since the Doctor’s 13th incarnation (played by Jodie Whittaker) in 2018, Kate’s life has changed quite a bit.

This uproarious, smart hour-long show looks at autism and Asperger’s through the theme of Doctor Who, as Kate takes us through the ways sci-fi show has shaped her view of the world. Kate Fox is a stand-up poet and broadcaster, a regular voice on Radio 4 and a “gentle activist” and campaigner for the voices of Northerners, the working class, women and the neurodiverse to be heard.

Kate Fox will be staging her brand new show, complete with social distancing, at Lunesdale Hall on Saturday 26th September at 7.30. Book your free ticket at Kirkby Lonsdale’s Visitor Information Centre, call 015242 97177 or message us on Facebook @kirkbylonsdale. .