Culture
Inspired by nature T At the end of this month (June 26-27) the fifth Wealden Literary Festival takes place. With a wealth of esteemed writers and poets including Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Morpurgo and Anita Sethi speaking it promises to be a highlight in any literary lover’s calendar. Eileen Leahy discovers more of its history and who will be attending…
Festival founders: Laura and Andrew Willan
16 | June 2021 | SO Magazine
his area is no stranger to cultural festivals – in fact we’re positively brimming with them in normal non- Covid times. Food & drink, music, puppetry and dance events have long been a staple of the summer calendar here in this corner of Kent with one of the newest being the Wealden Literary Festival. Established by husband and wife Andrew and Laura Willan in 2016, the festival takes place at Boldshaves Garden in Woodchurch. And according to its organisers provides a way for people to escape the pace of modern life and embrace the simplicity and creativity of the natural world. Well, given what we have all been through over the past 15 months due to the global health crisis this ethereal ethos sounds like just the soothing tonic. Taking place over the weekend of June 26-27 the nature-inspired Wealden Literary Festival will welcome the likes of Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who was Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019, Warhorse author Michael Morpurgo, playwright and poet Joseph Coelho and acclaimed journalist Anita Sethi. Festival founder, Andrew Willan, says: “After the challenges of the last year we were determined to put on a hopeful and inspiring festival, and I am very proud of the programme we have put together. People have embraced nature during the pandemic and the festival encourages and celebrates that.” When last year’s event was cancelled due to the impact of coronavirus, well-wishers began donating to the festival’s crowdfunding campaign. More than £4000 has been received so far with a further £1500 raised from an auction of unique books, art and experiences donated by supporters. Andrew explains: “Wealden Festival Foundation is a charity and
its income is a mix of ticket sales, sponsorship and charitable funding. With some of the grants that had previously supported our work being diverted to other, more immediately pressing causes, we looked to our community for help. “We have been overwhelmed by the response and are looking forward to welcoming people back to Boldshaves this month so that we can share everything that has been made possible by the support of our community.” This year, as well as the worldfamous guest speakers, the natureinspired event will include a ballet production of Tom’s Midnight Garden, a fabulous feast on the Saturday evening and camping under the stars in the ancient woodland at Boldshaves. The family-friendly festival which describes itself as a ‘celebration of nature, creativity and outdoors’ will also have a number of rising stars and local talent on the bill including writer Rebecca Schiller (pictured above right). Here the author and co-founder of childbirth charity Birthrights, tells SO magazine all about her new book Earthed which was inspired by her move from Ramsgate to the countryside – not far from Boldshaves - and her dream of taking on a smallholding. However instead of finding herself living the rural dream, Rebecca experienced a breakdown before being diagnosed with ADHD. Earthed, recounts this period of time and how the smallholding became Rebecca’s hope and anchor…. When did you start writing Rebecca? I’ve been writing since I was a child but started working as a freelance journalist 10 years ago and wrote my first book in 2016. What was the catalyst for you doing so? I have always found it relaxing to let my imagination take over and write stories, but I started writing
