Ronald Blythe, best known for his 1969 account of village life, Akenfield, wrote a weekly column for Church Times for 24 years, called ‘Word from Wormingford’. From finding Thomas Hardy in February rain and John Clare in country tracks, to talking to his white cat and reading through a dragonfly’s wings, the Blythe gift was to marvel in the everyday. His writing was intimate, meditative and often laced with a wry humour, inviting readers to share his enchanting perspective on the world. Yet few knew the real Ronald Blythe. Leaving school at 14, he educated himself in libraries, churches and walks in the East Anglian landscape. He never spoke about early poverty and his traumatic experience in the war, while his sexuality was kept private except from those closest to him. Drawing on unparalleled access to letters, notebooks, published works, drafts, and conversations from decades of friendship, Ian Collins (pictured) tells the full story of Ronald Blythe for the first time. The result is a sensitive, revelatory portrait which celebrates a fascinating, complex man and casts new light on one of our greatest writers.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the writings of Julian of Norwich still bring comfort to those who read them, hundreds of years later. But although her book survives, we know frustratingly little about Julian herself, a medieval holy woman who chose to shut herself away in a solitary cell. So, who was Julian?
In her novel I, Julian, Claire Gilbert (pictured) seeks to answer this question by bringing the world of this medieval anchoress to vivid life. In Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women, Hetta Howes considers Julian’s life alongside those of other medieval women writers, many of whom were also religious, in order to piece together a picture of who she was. In writing these books, both Gilbert and Howes discovered more than they bargained for – not only about Julian, but about themselves
1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger’s intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John’s wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission.
Against the rugged backdrop of this remote island beyond Shetland, Carys Davies’s intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.
Mark Oakley is the Dean of Southwark and a Festival of Preaching favourite. He is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Kings College London; Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, an Ambassador for StopHate UK, Patron of Tell MAMA (supporting those affected by anti-Muslim hate crime) and a Trustee of the Civil Liberties Trust. His books include By Way of the Heart: the Seasons of Faith, My Sour Sweet Days and The Splash of Words which won the Michael Ramsey Prize.
Described as ‘Britain’s answer to Anne Tyler’ by Philippa Perry, Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the novel Everyone Is Still Alive and several acclaimed works of non-fiction including the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love. Join her for a discussion around her new novel Ordinary Time, a wise, funny and deeply moving book that tells the story of Ann, a reluctant Vicar’s wife, whose world unexpectedly opens after meeting a kind and charismatic man on a trip to visit her brother.
Praised as ‘funny and heartbreaking’ by Nina Stibbe, Ordinary Time is an unforgettable story of the joys and sorrows of everyday life; one that asks big questions about friendship and marriage, forgiveness and redemption, and the real meaning of love.
Cathy Rentzenbink will be in conversation with Francis Spufford.
“Women have been, and still are, defined by their bodies and their life stage. What has Christianity done to collude with this process, or might it even have the power to challenge it? We’ll think about what medicine and faith have told us about our bodies, and relate this in particular to the experience of menopause.”
Pictured, Helen King.
Walking beside ancient water meadows, pilgrims can follow the ancient medieval path from the Cathedral to this historic site, ‘England’s oldest charitable institution’. On the way, walkers will learn something of the history of pilgrimage and its use as a contemporary form of prayer and contemplation. The circular route returns past St Catherine’s Hill along the route immortalised by Keats’ Ode to Autumn.
This is a return trip of approximately 4 miles. The route is uneven at times and can be muddy; good footwear is essential and an active level of fitness required.
Meet at Festival welcome desk at the Cathedral West Door.
Sally Welch will be speaking later in the day at her session Look Back, Be Still, Look Forward
In this session Malcolm Guite will discuss the perennial interest in, and renewed significance of The Matter of Britain, the cycle of stories around Camelot and the Grail, and also read an extract from his own new poetic re-telling.
In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen mocks the trope of mothers dying in childbirth, describing the mother of Catherine Morland as living on, despite dying while bringing her into the world ‘as anybody might expect’. Despite the dark humour, Austen points to a truth that is little acknowledged: that motherhood provides a unique perspective on mortality. In this session, Chine McDonald will explore themes at the threshold of life, death, faith, and grief through exploring imagery of the Pieta – Mary cradling her son Jesus’s lifeless body, and themes from her latest book on motherhood.
Event sponsored by Modern Church.
As quipped by the narrator of Pride and Prejudice, it was self-evident that, ‘a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’. As a fish can’t see water, so we cannot perceive many things about the values that imbue our social context. This is true also of our understandings of God.
Those on the underside of power and privilege are able to show the workings of our social systems to those who inhabit the ‘normal’ and the normative. And if they are artists, they can make these things visible in a powerful way by touching truths that are so deep as to be common to all human experience – love, loss, and the divine.
In this panel three guests will explore beautiful truths about God, human beings, and how we inhabit our planet. We will explore the power and potential of story-telling, poetry and the visual arts to surprise, challenge and enrich us. How can we connect with ‘Truth’? What is ‘universal’? And what happens when we ‘acknowledge’ and articulate it?
Natalie Collins, pictured.
Stories: Natalie Collins
Poetry: Reverend Mark Pryce
Visual art: Eddy Aigbe
Chair: Alison Webster
Hardly a day goes by without another slew of headlines about AI, ranging from how AI will take our jobs to how AI will take our place. Not all stories are negative, of course; many enthuse about the opportunities their new revolution will afford us. But there is certainly a fair amount of fear mixed up with the hope. What should we expect from the AI revolution. Will AI “replace” us? Will it achieve sentience, consciousness, humanity? And is there a religious dimension to all this? After all, if humans are made in the image of God, what should we make of the kind tech that is made in the image of us?
Eve Pool, pictured.
In a city that never was, in an America that never was, on a snowy night at the end of winter, two detective find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. It’s 1922, and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. Beside the Mississippi, the ancient city of Cahokia lives on – a teeming industrial metropolis, containing every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that body on the roof is about to spark off a week that will spill the city’s secrets, and, against a soundtrack of wailing clarinets and gunfire, bring it either to destruction or rebirth.
C.S. Lewis’ beloved Narnia novels present an entrancing world in which fantasy and faith blend together. The Narnian landscape, in which fauns hold tea parties, children become monarchs and magic peril threatens, are infused with the images and symbols of Christianity. They are also densely woven with literary allusions and references, from Dante to Beatrix Potter and from detective fiction to medieval romance. In this talk, Jem Bloomfield will explore the ways Lewis wove literary and Biblical material into his novels. He’ll show how these echoes of other texts can deepen our enjoyment and understanding of Narnia’s theological landscape. He’ll tackle crucial questions, such as “why do the Pevensies keep shaking hands with everyone?”, “what does Dorothy L. Sayers have to do with the White Witch?” and “why do people have such a thing about Mr. Tumnus?” Any visit to Narnia reveals a truth so universally acknowledged that it can be seen by the light of a lamp-post in a magical wood.
A conversation centred on practical methods for reflecting on a personal spiritual journey, using multiple creative ways and drawing parallels with Biblical narratives and the positive effects this can have on individual vocation and planning future directions in life.
Anno Domini 1546. In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing round her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul. The Book of Days is a novel of lives lived in troubled times and the solace to be found in nature and the turning seasons. Set during the English Reformation, The Book of Days explores many universal, contemporary themes: Where do we belong? What do we believe? How do we love? How do we deal with grief?
After the shock of her father’s death, and with her family scattered, 24-year-old Catherine Coldstream was left grieving and along. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory. Cloistered is the true story of the 12 years she spent enclosed as a nun in a remote Carmelite monastery in the North of England. Written with astonishing beauty and clarity, it is about the pull of devotion balanced against the intensity of life with 20 other women – and a flawed institution – that ultimately pushed Catherine to run away from the place that had held her. Catherine will be discussing her journey towards and away from monasticism.
Reflect, listen, and contemplate this song sung at the even point between the active day and the restful night.
No booking required, all are welcome to worship at Winchester Cathedral.
Few matters produce more public interest and public anxiety than sex and religion. Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. The issue goes to the heart of present-day religion.
This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a 3000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and the family, with noises off from their sacred texts.
Diarmaid MacCulloch will be speaking about his book with Dr Nick Spencer, Senior Fellow at the think tank, Theos. The event will be recorded for the podcast Reading Our Times.
