From Melinda Appleby:

I thought you and your readers might be interested in a conference I have organised to celebrate the river and its creativity.

Called A River Runs Through It, the event is presented by Waveney & Blyth Arts on Wednesday 25th April 2018. The venue us the Ivy House Country Hotel, near Oulton Broad on the Norfolk/Suffolk border and booking is direct through them.

Speakers from the environmental, academic and arts worlds include:

Tom Williamson, Professor of landscape history at University of East Anglia, on rivers as place makers;

Writer and angler Charles Rangeley–Wilson, author of The Silt Road, reflecting on water;

Dr Jos Smith, lecturer in Contemporary Literature, University of East Anglia, poet and author of The New Nature Writing: Rethinking the Literature of Place,  speaking  on the influence of environmental arts group Common Ground and the Confluence project;

and Simon Hooton, Broads Authority, on the potential offered by the Water, Mills and Marshes Landscape Partnership project.

PLUS artists, working in a variety of media, will explain their response to the river: Ruth Wharrier – botanical painter, Joanna Guthrie – poet, and Karen Wimhurst – composer.

And the Sensing Nature Ensemble of blind and visually impaired musicians will share their musical responses to the theme.

Tickets are £40 and include lunch and an optional post-conference walk on adjacent Carlton Marshes nature reserve.

To book contact the venue direct by email (info@ivyhousecountryhotel.co.uk) or phone (01502 501353). More info available here.