Bringing the best to Leiston

The Leiston Book Festival team staged a special event on Saturday, which saw globally respected peace activist, environmental thinker and Schumacher College founder Satish Kumar on stage in conversation with Climate Majority Project founder Rupert Read.

Ably hosted by Ian Clarke and captured on film and photo by the talented Callum Hoffman, our audience of more than 90 people saw the film 'Radical Love' before hearing Satish and Rupert on discussing how we should all stop being onlookers and start becoming the change we want to see. The event was kindly sponsored by Galloper Wind Farm.

As a former Jain monk, Satish advocates care for the soil, care for the soul, and care for each other. I realised as he spoke, how my researching my latest Wilton Square Books book 'Down to Earth' had led me to make similar conclusions, and how important it is for us all to rebuilt our connection with the natural world around us.

Audience feedback included the encouraging comment; 'We were genuinely both pleased and surprised to see that Leiston Book Festival had managed such a coup.' Too many people see Leiston simply as a town dominated by nuclear power stations, yet it has a rich history of innovation and challenging convention, so bringing Satish Kumar here fitted well with that tradition.

We're already planning to bring more big name thinkers, writers and commentators to Leiston, both at the 2027 Leiston Book Festival https://lnkd.in/eRCYbfGd, and perhaps sooner in the case of one writer whose team I am currently talking with about a winter event.