4-15 October 2019

The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is the largest and oldest literature festival in the world. The first, which ran in 1949, has paved the way for an extensive, autumnal line-up of authors, actors, politicians, poets, opinion formers, influencers and leaders in their field. It is a bibliophile's dream as for ten days Cheltenham is transformed into a living library. 

Centred around a Festival Village in Montpellier Gardens, pop-up big tops give the sense of a wonderfully colourful vintage festival, while an outdoor sitting room provides space to read at leisure, the bandstand has a new purpose as a bookstand where you can swap old favourites for new ones and an enchanted woodland is the setting for a children's line-up that's not to be missed. It's not limited to the village though as the Festival incorporates a collection of Cheltenham's pubs, clubs and bars to become hosts for spoken word, a lit crawl, speakers and even lunch sessions. We're also looking forward to 'Jungle Boogie' a David Attenborough Rave in the basement of House of Fraser!

Each year, the event brings more than 600 speakers to the town, and sells over 135,000 tickets to its events. Not to mention of course the ...around town programme which delivers more than 80 events for free for all ages, including walks, talks and interactive sessions. This year the theme is 'East meets West', with a special programme of interviews, debates, workshops and activities that explore the influence of the silk road and the relationship between the two regions. It's a veritable feast of favourites and alongside field leaders including Masatsugu Ono, Madeleine Thien, Sayaka Murata, Min Jin Lee and Xiaolu Guo, will also be a line-up of some of the nation's faves such as David Attenborough, Sally Field, Graham Norton, Jennifer Saunders, Gary Barlow, Strictly Come Dancing Judge Darcy Bussell, The Great British Bake Off Winner Nadiya Hussein, Olympic Athlete Chris Hoy and various children’s authors including Michael Morpurgo, Phillip Pullman, Anthony Horowitz and Jacqueline Wilson.

Bring on the Festival! We can't wait to host you...