The Lakeland Book of the Year’s long list has been revealed.
Seventy-four entries, all published in 2020, have been whittled down to a long list of 18 by judges Hunter Davies OBE, Cumbria Tourism president Eric Robson and broadcaster Fiona Armstrong.
The judges have the difficult task of choosing category winners, plus the overall Lakeland Book of the Year ahead of the announcement on October 19 at the Roundthorn Country House Hotel near Penrith, combined with a charity luncheon in aid of the Stroke Association.
Mr Davies, awards founder and judge said: “After 37 years this is the best year we have ever had.
“Over 70 good books, all newly published, all about Cumbria, with so many original ideas, so much research, so much fun and excellent writing.
“Is it the effect of COVID? Did Cumbrians rush to their computer to start tapping away instead of to the fridge?”
Cumbria Tourism managing director Gill Haigh added: “I’m very proud that Cumbria Tourism support the Lakeland Book of the Year Awards, every year I’m blown away by the sheer variety of world-class writing our fabulous county inspires.
“Every author who entered should feel very proud of their achievement and I can’t wait to see which book is our 2021 winner.”
2021 longlist
- A Lakeland Boyhood, David Clark
- And, Like A Melody, It Flew Away, Stephen Matthews
- Boundary Songs, David Banning
- Dead Ringer, Nicola Martin
- English Pastoral: An Inheritance, James Rebanks
- Hungry, Grace Dent
- Made in Carlisle, Roger Bolton
- Pooley New Bridge, Book of Memories, Various (compiled by Sam Bunting)
- Radical Wordsworth, Jonathan Bate
- Swimming Wild in the Lake District, Suzanna Cruickshank
- Terry Abraham: Life On The Mountains, Terry Abraham
- The Fresh and the Salt, Ann Lingard
- The Ghost of Gosswater, Lucy Strange
- The Stream Invites Us to Follow, Dick Capel
- The Testimony of Sal Madge, John Little
- The Two Saras: Coleridge in Cumbria, Bethany Askew
- Through the Locking Glass, Various (compiled by David Felton)
- Tommy’s Tyale, Tommy Coulthard
