Book Launch with Colin Speakman 'The Nut Brown Maid'
The Bookshop on the Square, OTLEY, LS21 3AQ
Friday 8th May 2026
Join us at The Bookshop On The Square as we celebrate the release of Colin Speakman's latest work 'The Nut Brown Maid' - a selection of stories and folk tales from the Yorkshire Dales.
'Traditional folk tales of the Yorkshire Dales are in danger of disappearing. That’s the view of award-winning author, poet and Yorkshire historian Colin Speakman, whose latest publication aims to halt that decline. Though best known for his many books on the outdoors,
including his pioneering guide to the Dales Way, but also books on local history, biography, and Yorkshire topography, Speakman has chosen to re-issue his popular collection of folk tales and legends of the Yorkshire Dales, The Nut Brown Maid, first published 40 years ago, in a new paperback edition.'
About The Nut Brown Maid
Colin has selected thirteen stories and tales of the Dales, some famous, some barely known or mere snippets of history, and reinvented them
for modern readers, with younger readers particularly in mind. The tales include such classics as the Ballad of Semerwater, the Drummer Boy, Potter Thompson, and the White Doe of Rylstone, but others are very little known. The title story, set in and around Barden Tower in Wharfedale, is actually taken from the Oxford Book of Ballads and was written by an anonymous Tudor balladeer, though based on real historical figures.
Listen to a selection of readings chosen by Colin as he talks about the importance of keeping the tradition of sharing local folk tales alive.
Friday 8th May | 6:30pm | Pay As You Feel
Refreshments throughout.
'Traditional folk tales of the Yorkshire Dales are in danger of disappearing. That’s the view of award-winning author, poet and Yorkshire historian Colin Speakman, whose latest publication aims to halt that decline. Though best known for his many books on the outdoors,
including his pioneering guide to the Dales Way, but also books on local history, biography, and Yorkshire topography, Speakman has chosen to re-issue his popular collection of folk tales and legends of the Yorkshire Dales, The Nut Brown Maid, first published 40 years ago, in a new paperback edition.'
About The Nut Brown Maid
Colin has selected thirteen stories and tales of the Dales, some famous, some barely known or mere snippets of history, and reinvented them
for modern readers, with younger readers particularly in mind. The tales include such classics as the Ballad of Semerwater, the Drummer Boy, Potter Thompson, and the White Doe of Rylstone, but others are very little known. The title story, set in and around Barden Tower in Wharfedale, is actually taken from the Oxford Book of Ballads and was written by an anonymous Tudor balladeer, though based on real historical figures.
Listen to a selection of readings chosen by Colin as he talks about the importance of keeping the tradition of sharing local folk tales alive.
Friday 8th May | 6:30pm | Pay As You Feel
Refreshments throughout.
