Peak Literary Festival
Encyclopedia
Dates and venues
The Spring Festival is held in May and the Autumn Festival in October. Events include a literary dinnerDinner
Dinner is usually the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon culture, dinner may be the second, third or fourth meal of the day. Originally, though, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten around noon, and is still occasionally used for a noontime meal, if it is a large or main...
and lunch at historic venues such as Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
and Hassop Hall
Hassop Hall
Hassop Hall is a 17th-century country house near Bakewell, Derbyshire which is now operated as an hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building.The Manor was owned by the Foljambe family until the 14th century when it passed by the marriage of Alice Foljambe to Sir Robert Plumpton. His son Sir William...
, 'The Great Outdoors' and Panel discussions with a strong audience participation.
Autumn 2006 Festival
Autumn 2006 speakers include 'The Great Outdoors' events with Rob Gambi, Jo Gambi, Benedict AllenBenedict Allen
Benedict Colin Allen is a British traveller. He is best known for his survival modus operandi: tapping into local, indigenous knowledge above reliance on modern inventions. His approach is to present himself as ready to learn, like an infant; the communities that he visits take him under their...
, Fred Pearce
Fred Pearce
Fred Pearce is an English author and journalist based in London. He has been described as one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specializes in global environmental issues,...
, James Cracknell
James Cracknell
James Cracknell, OBE is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist and adventurer. Cracknell is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner; they have three children. In the New Year Honours List, 2004, he was appointed OBE for services to sport...
, Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle
Ben Fogle is an English television presenter, adventurer and writer.-Early life:Fogle is the son of actress Julia Foster and broadcasting veterinary surgeon Bruce Fogle...
, George Band
George Band
George Christopher Band OBE ) was an English mountaineer.Band was born in Taiwan and educated at Eltham College...
and Guy Grieve; 'Sustainable Living and Country Matters' events with Tom Petherick, Mark Cocker
Mark Cocker
Mark Cocker is a British author and naturalist. He lives and works deep in the Norfolk countryside with his wife Mary Muir and two daughters in claxton...
, Johnny Kingdom
Johnny Kingdom
Johnny Kingdom is an English wildlife filmmaker, specialising in his local area of Exmoor in north Devon.-Biography:Kingdom has been a lumberjack, a farm worker, a quarryman, a poacher, and for over 50 years the gravedigger for his local parish, but his overriding passion is filming the wildlife...
, Willie Newlands, Jackie Moffat and Michael Norton
Michael Norton
Michael Norton is a Paralympic alpine skier from Australia. He won a pair of gold medals at the 1994 Lillehammer Games in the Men's Slalom LWXI event and the Men's Super-G LWXI event.-References:...
. Other speakers include G.P. Taylor
Graham Taylor (author)
Graham Peter Taylor , pen-name G. P. Taylor, is the author of the best-selling novels Shadowmancer, Wormwood and Tersias. Before taking up writing full-time, he was an Anglican vicar in the village of Cloughton, North Yorkshire.His works reflect his faith, carrying Christian messages like The...
, William Dalrymple, David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Gervase Phinn
Gervase Phinn
Gervase Phinn is an English author and educator. After a career as a teacher he became a schools inspector and, latterly, Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Teesside....
and Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
. The festival also includes a Literary Dinner at Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
with Francesco da Mosto
Francesco da Mosto
Francesco da Mosto is an Italian architect, author, historian, film maker and television presenter. He presented the three BBC 2 series Francesco's Venice and Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe where he explored the country in his Alfa Romeo Spider and Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage which sees him...
, a Literary Lunch at Hassop Hall
Hassop Hall
Hassop Hall is a 17th-century country house near Bakewell, Derbyshire which is now operated as an hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building.The Manor was owned by the Foljambe family until the 14th century when it passed by the marriage of Alice Foljambe to Sir Robert Plumpton. His son Sir William...
with Joan Bakewell and Steve D. Smith, and a Spanish evening with Chris Stewart
Chris Stewart (author)
Christopher 'Chris' Stewart , was the original drummer and a founding member of Genesis. He is now a farmer and an author.-Background and musical career:...
and Peter Kerr.
Previous Festivals
Previous festival authorAuthor
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
s include Clare Short
Clare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
, Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, Matthew Parris
Matthew Parris
Matthew Francis Parris is a UK-based journalist and former Conservative politician.-Early life and family:...
, Gervase Phinn
Gervase Phinn
Gervase Phinn is an English author and educator. After a career as a teacher he became a schools inspector and, latterly, Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Teesside....
, Brian Turner
Brian Turner (New Zealand poet)
Brian Turner is a New Zealand poet and author. He played hockey for New Zealand in the 1960s; senior cricket in Dunedin and Wellington; and was a veteran road cyclist of note...
, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire DCVO , née The Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford is the youngest and last surviving of the six noted Mitford sisters whose political affiliations and marriages were a prominent feature of English culture in the 1930s and 1940s...
, Clive Aslet
Clive Aslet
Clive Aslet is editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues.-Career:...
(Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
), James Geary
James Geary
James Geary is an American-born, London-based writer and the former Europe editor of Time.His most recent book is Geary’s Guide to the World's Great Aphorists which he claims to be the largest collection of aphorisms in the English language, and follows on from his previous volume on aphorists and...
(editor of Time Magazine), Roger Protz
Roger Protz
Roger Protz is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. He was an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale in 1971, and has written several books on beer and pubs...
(editor of the Campaign for Real Ale
Campaign for Real Ale
The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub...
(CAMRA), Jane Fearnley Whittingstall, Colin Tudge
Colin Tudge
Colin Tudge is a British science writer and broadcaster. A biologist by training, he is the author of numerous works on food, agriculture, genetics, and species diversity....
, David Rothenberg
David Rothenberg
David Rothenberg is a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with a special interest in animal sounds as music...
, David
David Crystal
David Crystal OBE FLSW FBA is a linguist, academic and author.-Background and career:Crystal was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He grew up in Holyhead, North Wales, and Liverpool, England where he attended St Mary's College from 1951....
and Ben Crystal
Ben Crystal
Ben Crystal is a British actor, author, and producer, best known for his work on making William Shakespeare more accessible. He has been referred to as "the Jamie Oliver of Shakespeare" by BBC Radio 5 for trying to make the plays accessible to all....
, Martin Gurdon, Mark Gwynne Jones, E. A. Markham
E. A. Markham
Edward Archie Markham FRSL was a poet and writer, born in Harris, Montserrat, and mainly resident in the United Kingdom from 1956. Known for poetry in both "nation-language" and standard English, for short stories and a comic novel, he sometimes used the pseudonym Paul St. Vincent and other...
, Meg Hutchinson
Meg Hutchinson
Meg Hutchinson is an American folk singer songwriter known for distinct alto vocals, poetic lyrics, and sophisticated songwriting. Originally from rural western-most Massachusetts, Hutchinson is now based in the Boston area. Influences include poet Mary Oliver, songwriter Shawn Colvin, and mood...
, Wendy Holden
Wendy Holden
Wendy Holden, also known as Taylor Holden, is an author and journalist who has written more than twenty-five books, nine of them international bestsellers. She was born in Pinner, North London, in 1961 and now lives in Suffolk, England.-Publications:...
, Dugald Steer, Martyn Ware
Martyn Ware
Martyn "Teddy Bear" Ware is a British musician and music producer. He is the chairman of a local football team: PPA. As a founder member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation"...
(The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
), Russel Senior and Nick Banks
Nick Banks
Nick Banks is the English drummer in the British band, Pulp. He lives in Sheffield with his wife Sarah Banks, two children , and his dog Geoff...
(Pulp
Pulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
), Mark Waddington
Mark Waddington
Mark Waddington, is a British comedy magician. Mark was voted "Best in the UK" for 2008 .-Career:...
(CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Warchild
War Child (charity)
War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...
), Nick Temple (editor of Global Ideas Bank
Global Ideas Bank
The Global Ideas Banks origins lie in the Institute for Social Inventions, which was set up in 1985 by Nicholas Albery, social inventor and visionary...
), Susanne Garnett (Director of Village Aid), Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
, Anne Fine
Anne Fine
Anne Fine, OBE FRSL is a British author best known for her children's books, of which she has written more than 50. She also writes for adults...
, Gary Younge
Gary Younge
Gary Younge is a British journalist, author and broadcaster, born to immigrant parents from Barbados....
, Stuart Mcleane, Jeanette Orrey, Sue Cowley, Margaret Dickinson, Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, Edwina Currie
Edwina Currie
Edwina Jonesnée Cohen is a former British Member of Parliament. First elected as a Conservative Party MP in 1983, she was a Junior Health Minister for two years, before resigning in 1988 over the controversy over salmonella in eggs...
, Don Shaw, Immaculee Ilibagiza
Immaculée Ilibagiza
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a Rwandan author and motivational speaker. She is also a Roman Catholic and Tutsi. Her first book, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust , is an autobiographical work detailing how she survived during the Rwandan Genocide and how she felt when all of her...
. Speakers at previous Countrybookshop events include Ellen MacArthur
Ellen MacArthur
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor, up until 2009, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo...
, Joe Simpson
Joe Simpson (mountaineer)
Joe Simpson is an English mountaineer, author and motivational speaker. He is best known for his book Touching the Void and the 2003 film adaptation of his book.-Early life:...
, Simon Yates
Simon Yates (mountaineer)
Simon Yates is an English mountaineer best known through the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, and the film of the same name. Touching the Void recounts the 1985 ascent by Yates and Simpson of the West Face of Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes, Simpson's accident...
, Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...
, Richard Whiteley
Richard Whiteley
John Richard Whiteley, OBE DL , usually known as Richard Whiteley, was an English broadcaster and journalist. He was famous for his twenty-three years as host of Countdown, a letters and numbers arrangement game show broadcast most weekdays on Channel 4...
and Judith Miller
Judith Miller (antiques expert)
Judith Miller is an antiques expert, writer and broadcaster based in the UK.-Early career:Born in Galashiels, Scotland, Miller first began collecting antiques while studying history at Edinburgh University...
.