Creative Folkestone Book Festival: Hazel Sheffield: Landscapes of Belonging

At Folkestone Book Festival, investigative journalist Hazel Sheffield discusses her acclaimed first book, Frontierlands: Britain’s Survival in the Making. The conversation explores places across Britain that were once central to local economies and communities, but are now abandoned or neglected, from silt-filled harbours to overgrown forests and empty buildings.

Hazel Sheffield looks at the people and communities refusing to let these places disappear, and the ways they are repairing, reclaiming and reimagining them. The event considers regeneration, community action and the climate crisis, asking what happens when people take the future of a place into their own hands.

The discussion is chaired by Nick Ewbank, a cultural regeneration specialist with a long track record of working on seaside town renewal, making this a timely and thought-provoking festival conversation.