Delightful evening at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. We saw two events starting with photographer Martin Parr talking about his book From the Pope to a Flat White– the book is photos taken in Ireland from 1979 to 2019. Compelling listening to both how a photographer works and how Ireland has changed in that time,

That was followed by listening to poets Simon Armitage and Sam Lee (also a well known folk musician) discussing environmental issues through a focus on the Nightingale. Both poets were erudite, thoughtful and superbly talented. Sam also sung a song that originated from Sussex. We ended up buying copies of both their books. Simon Armitage’s book is a translation from a medieval poem from Middle English of an argument between an Owl and a Nightingale. The evening was brilliant value!