Hazel Sheffield: Landscapes of Belonging

Across Britain are places once central to our economy and communities, but now abandoned or neglected: silt-filled harbours, overgrown forests, sunken railway tracks and empty buildings. For her acclaimed first book, Frontierlands: Britain’s Survival in the Making, investigative journalist Hazel Sheffield travels across the country to meet the people refusing to let these places disappear. She encounters communities repairing and reclaiming neglected places, creating new opportunities and finding their own responses to economic upheaval and the climate crisis. In this hopeful and timely conversation, Hazel explores what happens when people take the future of a place into their own hands. How can abandoned spaces become useful again? What can we learn from people with first-hand knowledge of the challenges their communities face? And what might regeneration look like when it begins with the people who actually live there? Longlisted for the 2026 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing and the Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award, Frontierlands is an inspiring exploration of regeneration, reclaiming power and the hope that comes from community action. For Folkestone, a town continually shaped by reinvention, community and its relationship with the coast, it’s a conversation that feels particularly close to home. This event will be chaired by Nick Ewbank, a cultural regeneration specialist who knows a thing or two about bringing seaside towns back to life. A former leader at Creative Folkestone, he has spent decades championing the power of arts and culture to transform places, from Hastings and Margate to Blackpool, Northern Ireland and even Taiwan. His expertise took him all the way to Westminster, where he served as Special Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Future of Seaside Towns. He even invented an imaginary seaside town, Seaminster, to demonstrate what a brighter coastal future might look like. With one foot firmly in the real world and the other in the realm of possibility, Nick is perfectly placed to join journalist Hazel Sheffield for a conversation about the people, places and bold ideas reshaping Britain’s communities. Folkestone Book Festival is our annual celebration of stories, ideas and conversation by the sea. Curated by novelist Sophie Haydock (The Flames, Madame Matisse), this year’s festival brings together more than 60 events across two weeks, welcoming world-class writers, thinkers and storytellers to Folkestone. Discover another event, browse the bookshop, explore Folkestone’s vibrant arts scene, independent cafés, bars and galleries, and share the experience with a friend. The best festivals are as much about the conversations between events as those on stage. The Festival is part of Folkestone is a Library, our ambitious town-wide celebration of reading, writing and storytelling, helping make Folkestone one of the UK’s most exciting literary destinations. We believe great conversations should be for everyone, which is why every event includes a £5 Cost of Living Ticket, available with no questions asked. Please help us spread the word. Together, we’re building a thriving community of readers, writers and curious minds. Folkestone Book Festival is proudly supported by Eurotunnel, Canterbury Christ Church University, Holiday Extras, and the Friends of Folkestone Book Festival. Creative Folkestone is supported by Arts Council England, Folkestone & Hythe District Council and Saga. Founding Funder The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.