The Parallel Path - Author Talk with Jenn Ashworth

Join us at York Explore Library and Archive in the Marriott room, Monday 27th October as we welcome Jenn Ashworth for a talk on her memoir, The Parallel Path.

This event will begin promptly at 6pm with an author talk & interview followed by a book-signing. Copies of the book will be available for purchase from Fox Lane Books.

Synopsis

Burnt out and longing for an escape, Jenn Ashworth emerged from lockdown with a compulsive need to walk - and to walk away. Armed with little more than the knowledge imparted by a two-day orienteering course and set of maps, she embarked on the most epic of English walks: Wainwright's Coast to Coast.

Guided not just by Wainwright's writing but also by daily letters from her friend Clive - facing an epic journey of his own - Jenn's pilgrimage soon becomes more than just walking: a chance to reconnect and excavate. to re-engage with the act of caring for others and for oneself. 

But the walk's tricky terrain is not the only thing standing in Jenn's way. As days go by, her balance begins to fail her and the act of putting one food in front of the other becomes a new exercise in caution. When a vicious heatwave forces her to pause her expedition and gives her an opportunity to investigate the new limitations of her body, Jenn is confronted with a life-altering diagnosis - and a new path of self-discovery.

Jenn Ashworth

Jenn Ashworth is the author of the novels A Kind of Intimacy, which won a Betty Trask Award, Cold Light, The Friday Gospels, Fell and Ghosted: A Love Story, which was shortlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2011, she was featured on BBC Two's The Culture Show as one of the twelve Best New British Novelists. She has also written a memoir-in-essays, Notes Made While Falling, which was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. She lives in Lancashire and is a Professor of Writing at Lancaster University.

Refreshments will be available to purchase from the York Explore team on the night. Please support our partners by enjoying a beverage.