Friday 8th May 2020 | Swindon LitFest

FRIDAY 8th MAY

DAWN CHORUS – created by dawn sky and dewdrops, birdsong and beauty, minstrels and musicians, storytellers and circus skills, poets and performers, and celebrated by you!

Lawn Woods, High Street, Old Town SN1 3EN
Tel: 01793 771080
5.30am ~ 8th May ~ FREE

As the sun rises over sleeping Swindon, join the early-birds, the keenest and coolest Festival followers, high on a ridge in Lawn Woods, for this all-age, all-weather outdoor event that marks the start of the second Swindon Spring Festival.
Marvel at an array of amazing acts: pipers, singers, storytellers, jugglers, poets, musicians, and outdoor entertainers! Make new friends, meet old ones, swig a hot cup of coffee or tea, bite an egg or bacon butty, watch the sun rise, frolic round the maypole, and celebrate life and Literature!
Come early - that’s 5.30am - or you’ll miss the best bits, and what’s more, you can come, have fun, and be back home before anyone has noticed you are gone! This event will start on time, that’s 5.30 on the dot, because the sun says so. It will run for approximately two hours.

The miraculous is in the everyday.

THE ART OF THE TREE – an exhibition by The Arborealists.

Richard Jefferies Museum, Marlborough Road
Swindon SN3 6AA
Tel 01793 979224
www.richardjefferies.org
10am-4pm ~ 8th to 17th ~ FREE

This exhibition features work by the internationally acclaimed group of artists, The Arborealists. Formed in 2013, this unique group of trained, professional artists excites the senses with an inspiring array of different views, interpretations and portraits of trees, in all their glory and in every medium.
Wherever they have exhibited, from the Royal West of England Academy to Mottisfont Abbey, the group's work has been met with critical and popular success. Now it is Swindon's chance to enjoy these beautiful images.

Secret Agent Marketing

promotes the Festival at FestivalChronicle.com, with reviews and nsights of the Festival, 2012 to 2020.

www.secretagentmarketing.com

PATRICK CURRY – on Enchantment

Lower Shaw Farm
West Swindon SN5 5PJ
Tel 01793 524481
12.30pm ~ 8th May ~ £8 (£7)

What is enchantment and why does it matter? What is its role in life today and the crises we face, especially the ecological one? Can enchantment be a way of life?
In his latest book Enchantment, Editor of The Ecological Citizen, university lecturer, and author of numerous books, Dr Patrick Curry, originally from Canada, asserts that awe and wonder go hand in hand with enchantment. Attempts to undermine or dismiss enchantment as a delusion are not only misguided but dangerous, potentially leading to disengagement with our world that could have disastrous consequences for the future of our lives on Earth.

ROB HOPKINS – on unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want!

Lower Shaw Farm, West Swindon SN5 5PJ
Tel 01793 524481
7pm ~ 8th May ~ £8 (£7)

Notwithstanding the common consensus that globally, things are pretty awful, there is plenty of evidence that actually, they can change, rapidly, dramatically, and unexpectedly—for the better! Yes, we do have the capability to effect dramatic change, thanks to human imagination, and the ability to ask what if? And if there was ever a time when we needed that ability, it is now.
Co-Founder of Transition Towns Network, broadcaster, author, TED talker, and activist, Rob Hopkins has been voted one of the top 100 environmentalists and is the author of From What Is to What If.