The Harrogate Summer Festival and the National Trust are delighted to announce a new partnership launching with an event on Friday 15th July with bestselling author Kate Atkinson in the atmospheric setting of Fountains Abbey.
It is the first time the Harrogate Summer Festival and the National Trust have collaborated and the first time the National Trust-run Fountains Abbey has hosted a literary event. The Abbey features in York-born Atkinson’s latest book, Started Early, Took the Dog, who will be speaking as part of the Harrogate Summer Festival this year.
Harrogate International Festivals Chief Executive Sharon Canavar said:
“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with the National Trust to celebrate two of Yorkshire’s great icons: the beautiful setting of Fountains Abbey and one of the country’s finest and most popular writers, Kate Atkinson. When Kate agreed to come for a home-coming event as part of our literature strand, Fountains seemed the perfect home.
“Fountains welcomes over 340,000 visitors every year and the Harrogate Summer Festival annually contributes over £4.1m to the local economy, so it made perfect sense for our two organisations to join together to cement Yorkshire’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading tourist destinations.”
Atkinson, recently appointed an MBE for services to literature, is one of the UK’s most successful and acclaimed authors and a Welcome to Yorkshire patron. Her event will give members of the public a chance to hear her discuss her latest novel hot on the heels of the hugely successful BBC adaptations of Case Histories.
Atkinson said: “I am delighted to have been invited to do this event. Like my character, Jackson Brodie, I love all of Yorkshire’s Cistercian abbeys, but Fountains is my favourite. I have holidayed in the Chorister’s House in the deer park and I think it is one of the most magical places on earth.”
Alexa Morton, Visitor Experience & Marketing Manager at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, said: “We hope our new partnership with the Harrogate Summer Festival will broaden our audience while giving visitors the opportunity to discover more of what Yorkshire has to offer culturally. We hope this exciting event will be the first of many!”
Tickets to Kate Atkinson’s event at Fountains Abbey on Friday 15th July at 7.30pm cost £10 and can be booked via the Box Office on 01423 502116 or online at www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
