photo: Paul Watt The East Neuk Festival (27 June – 5 July) has been going since 2004 and has always revelled in its location: the beautiful Fife coast and its many harbour villages. Its weekend festival-within-a-festival Littoral is a celebration of our profound connections with nature, landscape and seascape.
Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain has become a beacon of place-writing for two generations of writers. On 27 June Poet Tom Pow leads a discussion on this extraordinary work. Later in the day Pow returns for a conversation with Helen Macdonald, winner of this year’s prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize, who will discuss her book H is for Hawk.
After talks from wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell and conservationist Sir John Lister Kaye a closing panel discussion led by writer James Robertson will ask: what is the relationship between a place and its observer?
The following day Lister-Kaye and writer Mark Cocker explore Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water and its impact on nature writers more than half a century after it was first published.
Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain has become a beacon of place-writing for two generations of writers. On 27 June Poet Tom Pow leads a discussion on this extraordinary work. Later in the day Pow returns for a conversation with Helen Macdonald, winner of this year’s prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize, who will discuss her book H is for Hawk.
After talks from wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell and conservationist Sir John Lister Kaye a closing panel discussion led by writer James Robertson will ask: what is the relationship between a place and its observer?
The following day Lister-Kaye and writer Mark Cocker explore Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water and its impact on nature writers more than half a century after it was first published.
photo: Donald Lee Then begins a week of East Neuk’s staple fare – music – culminating in a world premiere from nature-inspired composer John Luther Adams. Adams lived for many years in Alaska but now splits his time between New York and Mexico's Baja California. Landscape and the natural world are his strongest influences: in the 1970s and 80s he was a full-time environmental activist and worked for the Wilderness Society, the Alaska Coalition, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center.
On 5 July the beautiful gardens and grounds of Cambo Estate are the setting for Adams’s From A Distance, scored for “a huge number of horns” to be played among the trees of Cambo’s woodlands.
On 5 July the beautiful gardens and grounds of Cambo Estate are the setting for Adams’s From A Distance, scored for “a huge number of horns” to be played among the trees of Cambo’s woodlands.
photo: Douglas Gordon The following week Manchester International Festival (2-19 July) stages Neck of the Woods, a portrait of the wolf brought to life. The festival invited Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon and outstanding pianist Hélène Grimaud to create the work. With Charlotte Rampling reciting and performing the story of the wolf, Grimaud curating and performing a series of works for piano, Gordon creating the visual world, it promises to be a startling collision of visual art, music and theatre.
Grimaud is an adventurous artist, and an outspoken environmentalist. In 1999, she formed the nonprofit Wolf Conservation Center in Westchester County, New York.
“People tend to be afraid of things that they don’t understand,” she says. “Maybe they didn’t grow up listening to classical music, so they believe it’s not for them. The same can be said of wolves. They are vilified, and we grow up fearing them. Once you understand them, they can be respected, not feared.”
Grimaud is an adventurous artist, and an outspoken environmentalist. In 1999, she formed the nonprofit Wolf Conservation Center in Westchester County, New York.
“People tend to be afraid of things that they don’t understand,” she says. “Maybe they didn’t grow up listening to classical music, so they believe it’s not for them. The same can be said of wolves. They are vilified, and we grow up fearing them. Once you understand them, they can be respected, not feared.”
Hélène Grimaud by Mat Hennek Neck of the Woods is written by New York-based novelist and playwright Veronica Gonzalez Peña. NATURAL LIGHT will review the opening night, July 10 and Neck of the Woods is on seven dates until 18 July.
For ticket details of all events click on the festival links or visit our What’s On page.
For ticket details of all events click on the festival links or visit our What’s On page.
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