Durham Book Festival Commissions

Audio Commission: Cuddy’s Course Self-Guided Literary Walk

What Does the Future Hold?

Essay Commission: Cuthbert and the Female Saints: Dr Janina Ramirez

Writing the Missing – The Water Trilogy

In mesmeric lyrical dialogue with her brain, the river and the sea, award winning disabled activist, writer and performer Lisette Auton weaves together character and setting to provoke debate and action in The Water Trilogy.

SoulFood: A Film from REfUSE Café

REfUSE is a pay-as-you-feel community café that works to reduce food waste. Working with filmmaker Nick Whitworth and producer Emily Wiseman, the café community have co-created a film showcasing the ground-breaking environmental work and culture of the café.

The New Great Britons

In 2002, the BBC ran a campaign to find the Greatest Briton. 20 years on, this partnership project with Durham University’s Dr Natalie Mears is a series of short films with leading university researchers, each advocating for ‘great Britons’ they feel have been overlooked by history.

Yours Sincerely: The Climate Letters

An online showcase of Linda France's Yours Sincerely installation, including some of the letters, artwork and commissioned pieces that were part of the project.

Ukraine: Geopolitics and History in the European Borderlands

This round table discussion was recorded by Durham Book Festival in partnership with Durham University in September 2022 and brings a group of leading historians together to explores the history of the current conflict in Ukraine.

Self-Guided Walk: The Never Never Land of W. H. Auden

Follow in W. H. Auden’s footsteps on a downloadable self-guided circular walk starting and finishing in Rookhope and listen to broadcaster Jeremy Vine give an overview of Auden, his work and affinity with the North Pennines.

Naomi Booth on Violet Hunt

Violet Hunt was a writer born in Durham in 1862. She went on to found both the Women’s Suffrage League and English PEN, as well as becoming a prolific writer and literary salon host.

Jessica Andrews: Forgotten Histories and Finding New Narratives

This essay from award-winning Sunderland-born writer Jessica Andrews reflects on the many facets of north-eastern female identity and how it is perceived today.

Letters from the World

We invited five acclaimed international authors to write letters to the people of Durham on the same day in August 2022.