Winter Solstice Celebration: Wonder of the Wild Year

Zoë Howe and Ajay Tegala are coming to The Reader Mansion House in Calderstones Park on Sunday 20 December for Winter Solstice Celebration: Wonder of the Wild Year, an evening that brings together science and folklore to mark the shortest day of the year.

It's a pairing of two very different backgrounds. Zoë Howe is an author, artist and Soho Radio's Rock 'n' Roll Witch; Ajay Tegala is a wildlife writer and presenter you might recognise from BBC Springwatch. Together they'll be weaving observation and imagination around the solstice, looking at how people and wildlife have endured and embraced the turn of the year for generations. The night frames the solstice as the shortest day of the year and the gradual return of the light, and the invitation is to grab a mulled wine and settle in for an illuminating night of wildlife tales, performance, local lore, a ghost or two, and some timeless guidance on how to lead a more 'charmed' life in rhythm with nature.

The evening is part of a wider winter solstice programme at Calderstones Park, which runs from 21 to 23 December. That includes a dawn poetry walk through the park, where guests gather outside the Mansion House before sunrise, so if you're the type who likes to be up and out in the cold before the sun is, there's more to this than just the one night.

Winter Solstice Celebration: Wonder of the Wild Year takes place on Sunday 20 December in the evening at The Reader Mansion House, Calderstones Park, Liverpool.