The rich literary heritage of Carlisle is celebrated in a new walking guidebook by an associate professor at the University of Cumbria. 

Dr Penny Bradshaw, who works in the English Literature department at the University's Ambleside campus, release her new book, A Literary Walking Tour of Carlisle, this Autumn. 

It details the city’s long history of literary associations through a half-day walk, accompanied by words of many celebrated poets and novelists who visited or had connections with Carlisle, including Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, and Melvyn Bragg.  

Beginning on the shores of the River Eden at the edge of Rickerby Park, the walking tour takes in a number of locations that have inspired authors from the medieval period to the present day.  

Locations include Carlisle Cathedral, as well as the Citadels and neighbouring railway station. 

Penny said: "I am interested in the ways in which our imaginative responses to place develop and evolve over time, but also in the powerful sense of place-identity which emerges when you bring together literary responses from a wide range of historical contexts.

"In the case of Carlisle, it’s the city’s complex borderland status which has been central to both its history and the way in which it has been presented in literature. This has resulted in a unique and fascinating body of place-inspired writing.”

Professor Julie Mennell, vice chancellor of the University of Cumbria, said: "Carlisle as a city of culture has much to offer and Penny’s new guide is a welcome addition that shines a light on its long and rich history of literary associations.

"Not only celebrating the city’s heritage, it also highlights some of the very reasons that continues to make Carlisle so unique and important to our wider Cumbrian and Borderlands region, from the environment to society and the economy.  

Her latest publication completes a unique trilogy, including Literary Lancaster (2016) and A Literary Walking Tour of Ambleside (2021). They showcase the campuses where Penny has worked during the course of her 20-plus year career at the University of Cumbria and its legacy institutions, where she was also a student.