Bookings and
Reservations

See details included with each event

Tickets for most events can be booked in advance either online, by phone, or from the venue box office.

ONLINE TICKET SALES

For most events, you can book your tickets online by clicking the "Book this event online" link beside the event details. All bookable events can also be found in the May section at… swindontheatres.co.uk

BOOK BY PHONE

To book by phone, call the number beside the event.

ON THE DAY

Or, on the day, tickets, if still available, can be bought on the door at each venue.

But please, with popular events, please check first for availability!

The ticket price in brackets applies to people entitled to concessions.

DOUBLE TICKETS

Most evening events scheduled at Swindon Arts Centre are available to buy as a double ticket at a reduced price. But these discounted tickets cannot be bought online. Should you wish to purchase double tickets, please call the box office on 01793 524481.

If you have any queries about booking or the Festival in general, please email us or ring 01793 771080.

Brian Blessed
Thu May 12

Hilary Bradt
Wed May 4

Roger Scruton
Wed May 4

Joanne Harris
Wed May 11

A N Wilson
Wed May 4

Yasmin Khan
Wed May 11

Emma Hooper
Sat May 14

Vince Cable
Tue May 3

Alison Bruce
Thu May 5

Christian Felber
Wed May 11

Amy Liptrot
Fri May 6

Ken Livingstone
Tue May 10

Welcome to the twenty-third
Swindon Festival of Literature!

Our founding spirit is rooted in love of the word: in good reading, exploratory talk, finding out about things, making connections, and the notion that life is for learning.

To this end, for two weeks in Swindon, we have brought together novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, artists, educationists, storytellers, naturalists, adventurers, and plain speakers.

We like to share new ideas, hear old and new stories, listen to good readings, have dangerous discussions, discover new writing, flutter certain dovecotes, pursue a little pleasure, meet new faces, and see familiar ones too.

This is a festival that brings people together, in Swindon, to enjoy things well-thought, well-written, and well-said. Writers meet readers and readers meet writers. We talk, we listen, we think, we drink, and also like to laugh. As a result, enjoyable, interesting, challenging, unpredictable, funny, and even memorable things happen.

Our Festival begins outdoors at dawn, with the rising sun, on that high ridge in Lawn Woods, overlooking our town.

For the following fortnight, there will be authors and events daily, at midday, teatime, and in the evening, carefully spaced and placed to enable you to attend as many as your own timetable and stamina allow.

For the full at-a-glance Festival diary, see the List of Events page.

And then, mark your own diary, so that from 2nd to 14th May you know where to be.

Please read on, and come along.

Matt Holland

Festival Director

Only connect: Art and Literature!

This year, artists from Swindon Open Studios formed a creative collaboration with the Swindon Festival of Literature. Their members submitted a wide variety of images and work, to see if any might be suitable for the cover of this year’s Festival brochure.

One, a painting by Tim Carroll, was chosen by the Festival design team – see top of page and printed programme! – but here are a few others that caught the eye.

The SFL is grateful to all the artists who submitted work and looks forward to a continued creative partnership with SOS!

David Morse

David Robinson

Jane Milner-Barry

Bookings and Reservations