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Words by the Water

Thankyou to all authors, publishers, chairs, drivers, orgaisersn, all Theatre and Spotlight staff, volunteers, guest house and restaurant hosts for making the 2025 WBTW festival the great success it was

Words by the Water 2025 was held Wednesday March 12th - Sunday March 16th at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick

We had a fantastic five day festival with an expanded programme to include more workshops, a writing competition for young and emerging Cumbrian writers and  more intimate events in the Circle Gallery.

Bookends director Lucy Matthews was buoyant about the return of the festival: 'For over 20 years, selling books at the Words by the Water festival has been an annual highlight for Bookends and a new era dawned in 2024 as we adopted the mantle of festival co-organisers alongside Leah Varnell, former Director of Ways With Words . The 2025 festival was a wonderful experience once again and the Keswick community responded  warmly and as enthusiastically as ever! We do hope you all enjoyed the mix of fascinating topics, high profile names and Cumbrian talent in the 2025 programme’ 

Leah shared the same excitement after the festival's return 'It has been a really challenging few years in the arts but we were absolutely delighted to be back in full force to share ideas and bring the Words by the Water festival community back together.

We have not yet had confirmation of next year's festival dates - Please watch this space or join our mailing list for updates!