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Anna Woodford CROSSING the Tees, Teesside’s biggest literary festival returns between Wednesday, June 9 and Saturday, June 20. The event, now in its seventh year, has been programmed entirely by Tees Valley library services, with support from local councils and Arts Council England, and features a huge range of interactive literary events from author-hosted discussions to writing workshops. Due to the uncertainty over ongoing Covid-restrictions, this year’s festival will take place entirely online, meaning that attendees can enjoy the wide variety of workshops and talks from the comfort of their own homes. Highlights of this year’s festival include, award-winning environmental journalist Tim Smedley discusses his book Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution on June 9.
TRIBUTES have been paid to a talented artist after his death aged 93. Birtley Aris was born in Sunderland to parents Dorothy and Frederick. He attended Chester Road and West Park Central schools before going on to study at the Sunderland College of Art and Craft. During World War II, he was a Bevin Boy coalminer at Silksworth Colliery. He then went on to work at stained glass studios in Newcastle, London and Brighton, before a stint in the civil service in London, where he met wife Jean Robbins, who died in 2019. Birtley and Jean married in 1955 and in 1960, welcomed daughter Jo.