Launch of Marlborough LitFest programme

Marlborough LitFest celebrates its 15th year with a packed programme full of more than 40 events offering myriad of topics for all ages.

The festival is set to run from 26 to 29 September.

On offer this year is an exciting mix of debut authors and established writers in fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, children’s authors and free schools events, workshops and LitFest’s annual Big Town Read taking place in the historic market town. 

This year’s line-up includes LitFest Patron Sir Simon Russell Beale, 2024 Golding Speaker Linda Grant, Celia Imrie, Robert Hardman, Kate Mosse, William Dalrymple, Zeinab Badawi, Robert Peston, Sarah Perry, Martin Sixsmith, Jonathan Dimbleby, Felix Francis and children’s author and illustrator duo Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre. 

Priority booking for Friends of LitFest opens on 1 July; general booking opens on 11 July. Festival brochures will be available at The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough or to view online; for more information, people can visit www.marlboroughlitfest.org

With autobiography, memoir, poetry and fiction and non-fiction covering genres including Shakespeare, royalty, politics, history, nature (in particular trees and tulips), singing therapy, midlife crises, a history of childhood reading, crime, food and travel, AI, sport, storytelling for both adults and children and a Big Book Quiz at The Parade Cinema, this year’s 15th anniversary programme has something for everyone.

Festival highlights include:

FICTION

     - 2024 Golding Speaker Linda Grant talking about her ninth novel, The Story of the Forest, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2023.
      - Award-winning novelist Kate Mosse returns to LitFest to talk about her concluding novel of the bestselling historical series The Joubert Family Chronicles, The Map of Bones.
      - Bestselling Sunday Times author and award-winning actor Celia Imrie discussing her latest novel, Meet Me at Rainbow Corner.
      - Fans of the international bestseller, The Essex Serpent can hear Sarah Perry talking about her new novel, Enlightenment.
      - Political and economics reporter Robert Peston will talk about his latest novel, The Crash, featuring his recurring main protagonist, Gil Peck.
      - The annual Hiscox Debut Authors slot this year features Emily Howes and Harriet Constable and their novels about Thomas Gainsbrough and Antonio Vivaldi respectively.
      - Join local playwright and author Barney Norris on a walk in Savernake Forest, examining the link between place and memory when writing about fiction. Participants can write about their own experiences and discuss this over a drink in a local Marlborough pub.
      - The equestrian crime novel mantle has passed from father (Dick Francis) to son Felix Francis. Join Felix talking about the 56th novel in the family name, Syndicate.
     - A total of 11 of Ben Kane’s historical novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers. Kane brings his latest book, Stormcrow, to Marlborough which focuses on the Norsemen of Ireland.
     - AJ Finn will talk about his latest crime thriller, End of Story, the follow up to his global bestselling 2018 debut novel, The Woman in the Window.

NON-FICTION

      - LitFest Patron Sir Simon Russell Beale interviewed by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, discussing Beale’s first book, A Piece of Work, recounting his acting career with a focus on his Shakespearean characters.
      - Bestselling author, historian and broadcaster, William Dalrymple will talk about his new book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World.
      - The latest book by author and journalist Martin Sixsmith, Putin and the Return of History, gives an original history of Russia’s 1,000-year past.
      - Acclaimed royal historian and biographer Robert Hardman’s latest book, Charles III, shows a portrait of a modern monarch.
      - Broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, acclaimed for his Second World War histories, talks about Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War.
      - Award-winning broadcaster and journalist Zeinab Badawi discusses her first book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, which brings a gripping new account of Africa.
      - Join former art critic of The Observer Laura Cumming talking about her memoir Thunderclap, shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024.
      - Jobs for the Girls is the third in Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s trilogy, focusing on the world of women’s work from 1950 to the early 1990s.
      - British entrepreneur and founder of leading AI microprocessor company Graphcore, Nigel Toon, brings a topical slant with his book, How AI Thinks.
      - Sports journalist Sam Peters in conversation with rugby player, Steve Thompson, about concussion in sport in his book Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth.
      - First time writer Chloe Dalton will share her astonishing story of Raising Hare.
      - Tristan Gooley, bestselling author of How to Read a Tree, shares tips on tree identification and how to unlock the secret signs that trees give about their past and surrounding landscape.

POETRY

      - Poet and spirituality teacher John Siddique will focus on two books at LitFest: So and Signposts of the Spiritual Journey at the annual poetry event at Marlborough College
      - The annual open mic Poetry in the Pub event returns for 2024, open to all poets of any age. This year’s theme for National Poetry Day on 3 October is ‘Counting’.
      - Poet Kate Wakeling will be sharing poems from her latest collection for children, A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop

This year’s Big Town Read, run in association with Wiltshire Libraries, is The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman. Following his 2015 biography of le Carré, Sisman identifies the women throughout his life who inspired the spy author’s writing and how they were ultimately an integral part of his successful writing process, as well as examining the relationship between biographer and his subject. 

LitFest encourages the local community (local book groups and individuals) to all read the same book ahead of a Q&A session with the author during the festival; there are multiple copies available over the summer from Marlborough Library.

New for this year, novice and experienced writers can immerse themselves in a plotting a story workshop with novelist Simon Mason, who has written literary fiction, children’s books and crime novels. 

This year The Parade Cinema will host a Big Book Quiz in the week leading up to the festival to test our audiences’ literary knowledge; author Katy Cawkwell tells the story of the Greek goddess Artemis in an adult storytelling session at The Merchant’s House in Marlborough.

In its 15th year LitFest has expanded its free activities for younger children and their families, with many ways to join in and share everyone’s love of stories. The children’s festival programme features a bumper crop of events – many free – to keep all ages entertained both before and during the festival weekend.

Little ones can enjoy poetry and storytelling slots at Pewsey and Marlborough Libraries, with Street Storytellers at The Parade Cinema, as well as free craft activities at St Peter’s Church with Aldbourne Children’s Book Group. 

Tall Tales Theatre will perform children’s stories with live music before and during LitFest. The popular Once Upon a Trail around Marlborough High Street returns for 2024: families can follow clues hidden in shop windows in Marlborough from 14-29 September to uncover hidden stories.

Every year LitFest sets up free author events for children at local schools. Award-winning author and humourist Andy Seed will be talking to Year 5 and 6 pupils in the Marlborough area about his Ancient Greek puzzle book, Going for Gold. 

Bestselling author Jenny Pearson will be bringing her exciting story, Shipwrecked, to Year 5 and 6 pupils in the Calne and Pewsey Vale areas. Local primary schoolchildren can participate in a story competition, this year themed: ‘A Forest Adventure’, with the results displayed during the festival weekend.

Older children can take part in the annual LitFest Big School Read for invited local secondary schools hosted at St John’s Academy in Marlborough and come along for the (always lively) St John’s Academy Sixth Form Debate at the Town Hall. 

LitFest’s fifth Love Books Competition has offered entrants the chance to explain their favourite book, poem or play in up to 750 words, with cash prizes of £300 and £100 available in each age group.

Genevieve Clarke, Festival Chair, said: “This feels like a bumper year for our 15th anniversary with a rich mix of interesting topics in addition to plenty of well-known names. We’re extremely grateful to all our supporters for enabling us bring this line-up to Marlborough as well as helping us to provide lots of free reading activities for children and families across the community. Roll on September!”

Tickets can be booked via www.marlboroughlitfest.org, on 0333 666 3366 or in person at The White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough, and from the Box Office in the Town Hall over the festival weekend. The bookshop cannot take orders by telephone.