Remembering Kay Dunbar

Kay Dunbar, who has died aged 78, will be remembered by many as the founder of the Ways With Words literature festival at Dartington Hall and as one of the founder teachers of Park School at Dartington.

In the spring of 1986 she, and I, were enticed to Devon by a tiny advert in the Guardian newspaper asking for teachers interested in starting a small, progressive primary school on the Dartington Hall estate. Each of us from different parts of the country applied, were offered jobs and became colleagues. Kay, being the more experienced teacher, was made ‘teacher-in-charge’ and led the school for seven years, helping to create a respected and much-loved place for children and parents. Park School celebrates the 40th anniversary of its inception next September.

You will be doing this again next year, won’t you!

A professional relationship morphed into a romantic one and, in 1994, Kay and I married. By then the Ways With Words festival was marking its third festival. Begun in 1992 Kay’s intention had originally been for the festival to be a small, weekend event at the end of the August holidays; something to fill her time before going back to school. Not a chance! A fortuitous introduction to David Astor, the ex-Editor of the Observer newspaper, supercharged the first festival from a small, parochial event to a major national festival; one of only 4 or 5 in the country at that time. The Observer’s support and introduction to well-known authors (Anthony Burgess, Melvyn Bragg, Hilary Mantel, Andrew Motion, Mary Wesley, Malcolm Bradbury were among the 100 or so speakers in 1992) ensured a national profile and importantly a keen and committed audience. People left the festival saying “You will be doing this again next year, won’t you!” Ways With Words’ future was sealed.

What made Ways With Words unique, and what made it so popular with writers and readers, was the fact that Kay created a collegiate, welcoming, generous-hearted event. Writers of all genres knew they would be offered an opportunity to meet with and talk to their readership, to network with other writers, with publishers and journalists in a relaxing, intellectually stimulating environment. And readers of all persuasions (of novels, poetry, biography, non-fiction) would find topics to inspire them and like-minded people to enjoy them alongside. Many friendships were ignited at Ways With Words, many of them lasting for decades.

Promotional liaisons moved from the Observer to the Independent on Sunday, to the Daily Telegraph. Ways With Words was nothing if not broad in its outlook and egalitarian in the views of the speakers who were invited to attend. We did draw the line at inviting Nick Griffin (the then leader of the British National Party, the BNP). That would have been a step too far even for Kay … although we did, for a moment, consider who might be a suitably challenging protagonist to put him on stage with!

The success of the Dartington festival spawned other ventures: weekend festivals in Bath, York, Bury St Edmunds and ultimately two other major festivals in Southwold, Suffolk and Keswick, Cumbria. These festivals ran for 25 years and 20 years respectively. In addition Ways With Words ran writing and art holiday course in Umbria, Italy and in the Dordogne, France.

Kay was recognised by the literary world in 2009 by The Royal Society of Literature, which awarded her the prestigious Benson Medal, and in 2021 when she was bestowed with an M.B.E. by Princess Anne for services to literature at an investiture at Windsor Castle.

Sadly, and quite unexpectedly, Kay Dunbar was diagnosed in 2019 with a rare neurological condition (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, PSP) which, over the next six years, gradually robbed her of her mobility, her speech, her sight, her ability to swallow and ultimately any means of communication: a cruel predicament for someone who thrived on personal contacts and conversational exchanges.

Kay’s illness, coupled with the devastating effects of the Covid pandemic on live events, meant that Ways With Words was unable to continue and, in 2023, the business was finally dissolved. The festival in Cumbria however (Words by the Water) was resurrected in 2024 under the auspices of Leah Varnell (Ways With Words’ Managing Director), Theatre by the Lake in Keswick and the local independent bookshop, Bookends. Similarly, a literature festival in Southwold has reappeared, organised by Suffolk Library Services.

I cared for Kay at home from 2019, with help over the past 3 years from a magnificent team of carers (organised in part by the Totnes-based care company, Margaret’s Care Company). As expected, the disease pursued its inevitable course and, on 30 July this year, two days after her 78th birthday, Kay died peacefully, without pain, with myself, her children, Chloë and Hamish, and her younger brother John by her bedside.

She was a remarkable woman: strong, capable, generous and caring. She leaves an impressive legacy which helped shape the literary landscape of this country, and which has forged many long-lasting friendships and memories among those who attended the festivals over 30 years.