BERWICK LITERARY FESTIVAL 2025
Welcome Welcome to the Berwick Literary Festival website. Whether you are a local resident or a visitor from afar, I hope you will enjoy exploring the story of the festival in this glorious border region and historic walled town, as we move towards our twelfth festival.
And, as I write that, the first task is a sad one – to note that in January Berwick and the Festival lost the energy and inspiration of Canon Christopher Smith after a long illness. Christopher took the many ideas that were circulating and with vision and imagination, brought people together to launch the festival back in 2014. From where it has gone from strength to strength, always with Christopher’s warm support in the background. After a long and distinguished ministry, his loss is keenly felt by many, and our love goes to Christine and their family.
Feedback from the 2024 Festival has been great! Thank you to all those who have expressed their appreciation for what we delivered, and please be assured that we have read and heard the criticisms as well, although you will recognize that often, for every critical comment there is one that says the opposite!! The most often repeated one, however, was over the ticketing system, and action is being taken on that.
The 2025 Festival is looking like being at least as exciting as its predecessors. Once again we are going with a theme – this time to honour the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War – which is The Things that Make for Peace. It will again be broadly-based and will as always present speakers and performers, well-known and less well-known, who will entertain, educate and excite! It all starts on VE Day (8 May) with one of our premier military historians, Sir Hew Strachan, speaking at The Maltings. (Tickets are available now!) More details of our developing programme will be posted as and when we have them. But a key priority is to continue to develop our collaboration with other organisations in the town and region, so that our Festival is seen clearly to be ‘of the community’ as well as ‘for the community’.
I hope you enjoy the website, and if anyone would like to support us further by becoming a patron, we would welcome your interest. Details are available here.
Andrew Deuchar
Festival Director