Cloistered

After the shock of her faither’s death, and with her family scattered, 24-year-old Catherine Coldstream was left grieving and alone. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory. Cloistered is the true story of the 12 years she spent enclosed as a nun in a remote Carmelite monastery in the North of England. Written with astonishing beauty and clarity, it is about the pull of devotion balanced against the intensity of life with 20 other women – and a flawed institution - that ultimately pushed Catherine to run away from the place that had held her. Catherine will be discussing her journey towards and away from monasticism.

Speakers

Catherine Coldstream

Catherine Coldstream was born into a family of artists in London. After converting to Roman Catholicism in her 20s, she spent 12 years as a Carmelite nun. She has since studied at the universities of Oxford, East Anglian and London, and taught philosophy and ethics in schools. Now based in Oxford, she is associate editor of MONK arts magazine and a keen amateur musician. Her years as a nun have never left her and continue to inspire her writing.