Chiddingstone castle literary festival

Events 17 December 2019 By

Chiddingstone Castle Literary Festival reveals its best-ever line up of authors, performers and workshops for 2020 taking place over the VE Day Bank Holiday Weekend, putting Chiddingstone in Kent firmly on the cultural calendar.

‘Chiddingstone Castle Literary Festival is a gem among literary festivals.’Anna Pasternak

One of only twelve Literary Festivals in Baillie Gifford’s Sponsorship Portfolio which includes Hay, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Henley Book Festivals.

Established in 2016, the annual Chiddingstone Castle Literary Festival builds on its success as the organisers announce their biggest and best ever line-up of authors, performances and workshops to date. Highlights include:Michael Morpurgo, Andrew Roberts, Alexander Shulman, Tom Holland, Maggie O’ Farrell, Peter James, Charles Moore, Neil Macgregor, Michelle Paver, Joanna Trollope.

Taking place on the first Bank Holiday weekend in May, the festival brings yet more wonderful author events and entertainment to West Kent, for adults and children. Set in the historic house and beautiful grounds the event has been carefully curated to ensure there is something for all ages and interests. This year’s festival coincides with the 75th Anniversary of VE Day on Friday 8th May, so there will be WWII events to celebrate and commemorate this special day including 1940s songs, Lindy Hop and Jive performances, the sounding of the Last Post and WWII historian Andrew Roberts talking about Churchill and acclaimed author of War Horse Michael Morpurgo on the importance of writing about war for children, along with authors Lucy Strange and Anna Fargher whose books are also set in WWII.

This year we introduce our new Friends of the Festival scheme which offers our loyal supporters the opportunity of priority booking, advanced programme information, complimentary tickets to events and the drinks party plus acknowledgement in our programme in return for a donation https://www.chiddingstonecastle.org.uk/friend-of-the-festival/.

For those who can’t wait until May, visit the Castle’s podcast page to listen again to some of the highlights from last year’s author talks https://www.chiddingstonecastle.org.uk/literaryfestival2019/

Festival Organiser Victoria Henderson said ‘We are thrilled with the line-up for this year’s festival; it offers such a wide variety of subjects and speakers, giving our visitors this wonderful opportunity to hear from so many high calibre authors, to take part and really immerse themselves in the joys of the spoken and written word. All are welcome, and as ever we aim to offer something for everyone.’

Online programme goes live from 8th March for pre-registered guests and Friends of the Festival. Tickets are available online from 15th March 2020: https://www.chiddingstonecastle.org.uk/literary_festival/. Ticket prices: individual adult events £14.00, children’s events £7.00. Buy 4 get 1 free offer will be available on Saturday and Sunday, workshop tickets vary in price, see booking page for details.

To pre-register for priority booking opening 8th March please visit: https://register.liveit.io/chiddingstone-castle-literary-festival/register/chiddingstone-castle-literary-festival-2020

For further information contact: Caroline at Pennington PR on 01892 616647 or 07775 943305 email: Caroline@penningtonpr.com

For enquiries regarding the Literary Festival contact: Victoria Henderson, Artistic Director on 01892 870625 or 07712103121 email: literaryfestival@chiddingstonecastle.org.uk