Introduced by James Crowden

Of all landscape features – lakes and mountains, plains and deserts - none has the imaginative potency of islands. Sailing single-handed up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, Philip Marsden explores the islands that litter that wild and dangerous coastline. Some have several hundred residents, some just a few, many are deserted, some don’t exist at all. But each of them – real or imaginary – illustrates how the smallest and most peripheral of physical places can reveal the fullest extent of the human spirit. A beautiful and at times perilous sea journey.

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Sponsored by The Grosvenor Arms

The session is aimed at children aged 5-11, accompanied by an adult.

Tim Laycock reads, tells and sings stories from his recent collection of local stories Dorset Folk Tales for Children. Prepare to encounter Giant Grumble, fly off with Jack in the Magic Boat, and enter the jaws of the Biggest Crocodile in Dorset! An adult must accompany the child/ren they book in and all tickets for both child and adult must be booked ahead of the event.

The session is aimed at children aged 5-11, accompanied by an adult.

Tim Laycock reads, tells and sings stories from his recent collection of local stories Dorset Folk Tales for Children. Prepare to encounter Giant Grumble, fly off with Jack in the Magic Boat, and enter the jaws of the Biggest Crocodile in Dorset! An adult must accompany the child/ren they book in and all tickets for both child and adult must be booked ahead of the event.

Introduced by Richard Kerridge

Christopher Nicholson is the author of several acclaimed books, among them ‘Winter’, a novel about Thomas Hardy in old age, and ‘Among the Summer Snows’, a meditation on loss and hope set in the Scottish Highlands. Extraordinary as it may seem, every summer a few beds of snow can be found in the clefts and gullies of Scotland's mountains, but their survival is always in doubt. In his talk Nicholson will be discussing emotion and the land, looking particularly at the importance of surprise and uncertainty in our responses to the natural world. 

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Sponsored by Wessex Internet

Introduced by James Crowden

Two years ago, the world changed. Lockdown confined us to familiar surroundings, which for author and naturalist Stephen Moss meant re-exploring the area within a one-mile radius of his Somerset home. The resulting book, Skylarks with Rosie, is a diary of that strange and unique time, which examines the nature of the local, its relationship with the global, along with family life and politics. Stephen looks back on that extraordinary spring, and reflects on how it changed our way of relating to nature. 

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Sponsored by Coconut & Cotton

For children aged 3-12 (Children under 10 will need to be accompanied by an adult)
This art and craft session will be based on Yuval's book entitled The Big Book of Bugs. Paper, pencils and coloured markers will be provided. Each session will last approximately 45 minutes, with an opportunity for questions at the end.

Yuval is the author and illustrator of the series Big Book of......
The latest in the series is called The Big Book of Belonging. 

Introduced by Richard Kerridge

The whole nation of Croatia awaits the return a single stork. An Austrian zoologist watches a tropical freshwater fish make a decision. A man who cannot speak finds his voice in an encounter with a jaguar. An American ecologist hurls starfish out to sea and discovers how nature functions. A Japanese Yakuza gang has a shoot-out on the high seas over a cargo of sea cucumbers.

Keggie Carew will take us on an expedition into our most revealing encounters with the animal world. From the smallest creatures to the loftiest minds; true stories that teach us about our past, the world we live in, the home we could have, and ourselves. Her emissaries are scientists, explorers, poets, pigeon fanciers and a throng of creatures who will illuminate the beastly wonders of life, and the contrary animals we are instead of the gods we told ourselves we could become.

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Sponsored by Farnfields