Ways With Words festival facts and figures from the lit fest
- Twenty-one years ago, festival directors Kay Dunbar and Stephen Bristow gave up university lecturing jobs to start running Ways With Words.
- The festival is planned to appeal to everyone: serious readers, not so serious readers, would-be writers, lovers of books, conversations and ideas, and generally anyone who enjoys a friendly festival atmosphere.
- Ways With Words takes place in a stunning medieval courtyard, with extensive gardens in green South Devon countryside, near to sea and moor. Events take place in two main venues – The Great Hall and The Barn Theatre. Other fringe venues play host to master classes, workshops, poetry walks and readings.
- When not attending events, festival-goers can wander the gardens, mingle with writers in the White Hart Bar or simply relax in a deckchair with a good book.
- At the first festival, Ways With Words had around 50 events and 60 writers. In 2012 there will be about 150 events and 180 writers.
- Ways With Words is a residential festival where festival-goers and writers can ‘live in’, giving it a dynamic campus atmosphere and offering the chance to meet and mingle with book lovers and writers.
- Festival goers can buy a ticket for just one event, stay onsite for the whole ten days and go to events from dawn to dusk – or anything in between. Various ticket combinations and accommodation packages are available.
- 2012 highlights include: Michael Palin, Julian Clary, John McCarthy, Nicholas Evans, Jeremy Hardy, Jung Chang, Joan Bakewell, Simon Armitage and Hilary Mantel.
- About 15,000 tickets are sold for the events and around 100 festival-goers will be resident at Dartington for the festival.
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