Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair
Mon May 3

Jenni Murray

Jenni Murray
Wed May 5

Alfred Williams

Alfred Williams
Thu May 6

Steve Jones

Steve Jones
Mon May 10

Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy
Wed May 12

Welcome to the seventeenth
Swindon Festival of Literature!

When you meet people, who like reading and writing, talking and listening, at a festival of Literature, almost anything can happen.

And that is what’s exciting. Meeting new people, new authors, or new ideas, is like opening a book. When you start reading, you never quite know what you will discover. And by the time you do, it’s too late. You are hooked!

In its attempt to hook you, this year’s Swindon Festival of Literature offers entertainment, exploration, and ideas galore. It includes novelists, poets, politicians, philosophers, scientists, storytellers, sportsmen, historians, comedians, artists, and activists.

Ours is a festival that sets out to prove that when readers meet writers, and writers meet readers, enjoyable, interesting, challenging, worthwhile, unpredictable, funny, and memorable things happen.

The Festival begins, as ever, with fun and the rising sun, at dawn on that high ridge overlooking the town in Lawn Woods – on the Spring Bank Holiday, Monday 3rd May!

And on each subsequent day, there will be events at midday, teatime, and in the evening, carefully spaced and placed to enable you to attend almost every one, should you have the stamina!

For a full at-a-glance list of events, see the Festival Diary page.

And then, mark your own diary, so that from the 3rd to the 15th May you know where to be, if you want to be meeting, greeting, and listening to writers, thinkers, entertainers, and joining a fabulous flock of Festival followers.

Let’s celebrate things well thought, well written, and well said!

Matt Holland

Read on, and please come along.

MATT HOLLAND

Festival Organiser

Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver
Tue May 4

Maureen Lipman

Maureen Lipman
Wed May 5

Bonnie Greer

Bonnie Greer
Fri May 7

Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo
Tue May 11

A C Grayling

A C Grayling
Fri May 14