Panel discussion: The Impact of Cornwall’s unique identity

The finale of the Redruth Book Festival

The Redruth Drapery, Redruth, TR15 2RZ 
Sun 21st April 2024
2-3pm
Tickets £5

This year, Redruth Book Festival is closing with a panel discussion, the title of which is: ‘The Impact of Cornwall’s unique identity and landscape on its past, present and future’.

This promises to be a lively debate/question and answer session, and is chaired by Julian German.  Julian was elected as Leader of Cornwall Council in May 2019. Julian is from a private sector background with an MSc from Edinburgh and a BA Hons from Hull.  He is the Independent Cornwall Councillor for the Roseland Electoral Division. He is also an Arts Council England South West Board Member and Chairperson of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site Partnership Board.  Julian has been a Cabinet Member since 2009 holding the following roles: Environment, Heritage and Waste Management; Localism, Sustainability and Devolution, Economy & Culture, Resources and Deputy Leader.
Outside of Cornwall Council, Julian is a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh and Chairperson of Roseland Community Transport. He is a Trustee of a number of registered charities including St Just in Roseland Community Land Trust, Homeyard Homes, St Piran’s Trust and the Radford Trust.

Panel members are:
Lucy Crane: 
Lucy is a geologist at Cornish Lithium, with a background in grassroots exploration. She holds an MSc in Mining Geology from Camborne School of Mines and a Master’s degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford. Prior to joining Cornish Lithium, she worked as an exploration geologist for Altus Strategies, planning and implementing exploration strategies for base and precious metals projects up to drill stage in Africa. She is now applying these skills to Cornish Lithium’s exploration programme. Part of her role at Cornish Lithium is to foster collaboration with other industry and academic partners to accelerate the exploration programme and test new concepts.
Lucy has a keen interest in furthering the interests of young mining professionals and in promoting the mining industry to students, and sits on the committee of both Young Mining Professionals and Women in Mining (UK).  Cornish Lithium are Redruth Book Feast’s Headline Sponsors.

Tim Hannigan:
Tim Hannigan was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom. After leaving school he trained as a chef and worked in Cornish restaurants for several years, before studying journalism at the University of Gloucestershire. He also worked as an English teacher and a tour guide before becoming a full-time writer.  His latest book, The Granite Kingdom, is a fascinating, lyrical account of an east-west walk across Britain’s westernmost and most mysterious region. A distant and exotic Celtic land, domain of tin-miners, pirates, smugglers and evocatively named saints, somehow separate from the rest of our island.  Tim Hannigan undertakes a zigzagging journey on foot across Britain’s westernmost region to discover how the real Cornwall, its landscapes, histories, communities and sense of identity, intersect with the many projections and tropes that writers, artists and others have placed upon it.

Philip Marsden:
Philip Marsden is an award-winning author of a number of works of travel, fiction and non-fiction, including The Bronski House, The Spirit-Wrestlers, The Levelling Sea and, most recently, The Summer Isles. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his work has been translated into fifteen languages. After years of travelling, he now lives on the tidal upper reaches of the River Fal in Cornwall with his wife, children and various boats.

Gillian Burke:
Gillian was born in Kenya, and moved to Vienna at the age of ten.  Her ancestry is Afro-Trinidadian, Seminole, Mauritian and Somalian; her mother was a journalist and worked with the United Nations. Gillian studied biology at Bristol University, and subsequently worked as a researcher for the BBC’s Natural History Unit.  She was a producer and director on several series for Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, and as a voiceover artist, before becoming a regular presenter on Springwatch in 2017. As part of her role, Gillian has also presented its seasonal spin-offs Autumnwatch and Winterwatch.  She is also presenting a series of podcasts, entitled ‘If I ruled the World’ that shatter conventional wisdom and explore the world’s biggest questions. Gillian lives in Cornwall with her two children and is an ambassador of the rainforest protection charity Cool Earth.  

This panel discussion, with questions welcomed from the audience, is set to be a thought provoking and challenging end to an impressive weekend of Literary riches.

Categorised in: New releases

This post was written by samstone