Since Dougald Hine and Paul Kingsnorth published the Dark Mountain manifesto in 2009, the project has become a gathering point for writers, artists and musicians, gardeners, engineers and psychologists — in fact, all kinds of people who are interested in exploring the deep roots of the crises we are living through. The situation of the world today is tangled up with the stories we have been telling ourselves for generations, as cultures and societies.
Dark Mountain aims to create a space for questioning these stories, for talking honestly about our fears and anxieties, and finding new stories to make sense of the journey into the unknown world ahead.
Special Guests
Guests this year include Jay Griffiths ('Wild'), Simon Fairlie (The Land), Maddy Harland (Permaculture Magazine), Vinay Gupta (The Hexayurt Project), Sharon Blackie (Two Ravens Press), Fergus "the forager" Drennan, Andy Hamilton on brewing, Warren Draper on the Luddites, and Dearbhaile Bradley (Elder Bard of Glastonbury);
Poetry
The poets Mario Petrucci, Melanie Challenger, Em Strang and Adrienne Odasso.
Music
There's also music from The General Assembly, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Chris T-T, Marmaduke Dando and others.
Activities
There will be children's activities, locally-sourced food and beer, campfires, late-night storytelling and theatre in the woods.
Despite the name, the conversations which have grown around Dark Mountain are far from gloomy, something that comes across in this video from last year's festival:
Uncivilisation takes place the weekend of 19-21 August. More information and tickets are available through the festival website: