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.
Peggy Seeger
Thu May 17
A C Grayling
Tue May 8
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Wed May 3
Ben Okri
Wed May 9
Judy Murray
Thu May 4
Children’s Day
Sun May 13
Michael Rosen
Wed May 9
Afua Hirsch
Wed May 9
Will Self
Sat May 13
Harriet Harman
Tue May 15
Matt Harvey
Mon May 8
Jake & Darine
Sun May 13
Welcome to the twenty-fifth
Swindon Festival of Literature!
Twenty five years ago, two men were introduced to one another. Over a pint, the late antiquarian book auctioneer, Dominic Winter, said ‘It would be nice to have something bookish in Swindon.’ His new friend, the undersigned, replied, ‘Indeed it would. In fact, a Festival of Literature!’
And so it was that on Friday 6th May 1994, the first Swindon Festival of Literature began, at Lower Shaw Farm, with a poetry reading and residential writing weekend led by the late Sebastian Barker.
The rest, as they say, is history, twenty-five festivals of it!
Our founding spirit is rooted in love of the word, good reading, exploratory talk, finding out about things, making connections, and the notion that life is for learning, and pleasure too.
The Festival begins with early-morning literary frolics: stories, songs, poems, performance, music, and movement, outdoors, at dawn, with the rising sun, on that high ridge in Lawn Woods, overlooking Swindon.
Then, for two weeks, in Swindon, we bring together novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, politicians, performers, athletes, artists, adventurers, storytellers, 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, to enjoy things well-thought, well-written, and well-said. As a result, enjoyable, interesting, challenging, unpredictable, funny, and even memorable things happen.
For a fortnight, in Swindon, 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 7th to 19th May you know where to be.
Please read on, and come along.
Matt Holland
Festival Director
25 years of The Swindon Festival of Literature
Swindon Festival of Literature 2018 made possible by help from…
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