Newcastle University

This talk by celebrated novelist and writer, Ronald Blythe, takes us along the ‘sacred shores’ of Iona to Cornwall, along the way reflecting on the background to the Lindisfarne Gospels, which return to the North East this summer, and considering the influence on literature and art of the shores’ wild geography and the sense of peace derived from walking and witnessing our shorelines. The lecture will include readings by David Holt of Anglo-Saxon poetry and prose from Ronald’s own writings on the subject. 

Ronald Blythe has lived in East Anglia all his life and written many books based on the area, most notably the classic Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village in the 21st Century. He has received many awards for his writing, including the Benson Medal for Literature, and his work been translated into several languages. He has also edited classics for the Penguin English Library and is an associate editor of the New Wessex Edition of  The Works of Thomas Hardy. His latest book, The Time by the Sea (Faber and Faber), describes his youth at Aldeburgh with Benjamin Britten and the artists John Nash and Sir Cedric Morris.