Cornwall-based novelist Patrick Gale is the bestselling author of Notes from an Exhibition, and Take Nothing With You. His new novel, Love Lane, returns to Harry Cane, a character inspired by Gale’s own great-grandfather, in a story of homecoming, buried sexuality, memory and family secrets.

Working-class Cornish writer Natasha Carthew explores the lives behind the postcard image of the coast. Drawing on her memoir Undercurrent and new book Rough Edges, she writes with fierce honesty about poverty, place, belonging and what a life in Cornwall really means.

Bestselling historian Peter Moore tells the extraordinary story of Thomas Cochrane, naval hero, political radical and inspiration for Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey, whose remarkable adventures have some fascinating connections with Falmouth. and its rich maritime history.

Award-winning writer Philip Marsden is the author of The Levelling Sea, Rising Ground and The Summer Isles. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, his work explores place, landscape, history and the natural world. He joins Gillian Burke and Matt Slater to consider Falmouth’s past, present and future.

Biologist, broadcaster and naturalist Gillian Burke is best known as a presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. A former natural history producer and director, she is also a Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts and now lives in Falmouth. 

Marine biologist Matt Slater grew up in Falmouth and has spent much of his life on and under the water. A former fisherman, sailing instructor and aquarium manager, he is now Marine Conservation Officer at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, working on seafood and marine restoration projects.

Pussy Riot founding member Maria Alyokhina joins us for a special evening of readings, music and conversation. Drawing on her extraordinary book, Political Girl, this event presents a rare chance to spend time in the company of one of the most remarkable voices of political resistance in contemporary Russia.

Luke Thompson is a writer and publisher from Cornwall whose work explores the strange territory where animals, literature and folklore meet. His new book, A Cornish Bestiary, delves into Cornwall’s wonderfully weird history of beasts both real and imagined.

Fifty years ago, Michael and Clare Morpurgo left London for a remote Devon farm. There Michael became a writer, and together they founded the charity Farms for City Children. They join us for a very special event to discuss Down Burrow Lane, the story of their marriage, family, farming and the life they built together.

Emily Cunningham MBE is a marine biologist and award-winning ocean conservationist. From studying whales and dolphins off the Cornish coast to conservation work from Antarctica to the Amazon, she has spent more than a decade fighting for our oceans. Her latest book is Our Ocean to Save.

Joelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, novelist and performer, and one of Britain’s most electrifying voices in contemporary poetry. Her collection C+nto & Othered Poems,  won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Polari Prize. Her latest collection, Maryville, was published in 2025.