The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Relive all the news, reviews and updates from our live coverage of The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2011 here.

An Awfully Big Adventure...

With over 500 mouth-watering events, 600 speakers, a plethora of pioneering Guest Directors, bags of family fun and a smorgasbord of fantastic free activities, The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2011 is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet...an awfully big adventure.

Plus, this year we're unveiling Cheltenham's new literary quarter on Montpellier Gardens, just two minutes walk from our tented village on Imperial Square. You'll also find a huge Waterstone's book tent and two brand new, unique dining experiences, Spiegeltent Bistro and the Feastfest Food Hall. Click here for venue maps & visitor information.

There's never been a better tie to visit the Festival. Nourish your mind, widen your horizons and let your imagination run riot. Make a day of it, make a week of it; challenge, question and debate - or sit, read, relax and soak up the atmosphere. We look forward to welcoming you!

Subscribe to our eNews to stay up to date with the latest news or visit our Festival blog.

“I can’t think where or when I might have such a fine, fascinating entertaining time as I did these past two weekends.” —Erica Wagner, The Times

Festival Blog

Meet the organisers, share your views and get behind-the-scenes gossip. Find out what it's really like putting on the largest Literature Festival yet and read all the latest news and views.

View the latest posts here

Sky Arts
The Book Show

Sky Arts will return for a third year as Broadcast Sponsors of the Literature Festival, find out when you can catch filming of The Book Show LIVE at the Festival...

Find out more here

2011 Guest Directors

This year's Guest Directors are taking us on a Journey of Discovery through the worlds of adventure, food, sport and of course, literature - celebrating pioneers who go the extra mile to discover something new...

Find out more here

Confirmed Appearances

With over 500 events and 600 speakers, we thought you might find an index of confirmed appearances useful so you don't miss your favourite artist.

View Confirmed Appearances here

BIG on Books?

Win an e-reader plus £400 of Amazon vouchers courtesy of The Scottish American Investment Company P.L.C. sponsor of the Money Talks events at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Click here to enter

Catering at the Festival

Experience, locally sourced, hot & cold food, fully licensed bars and a programme of music and events at the Spiegeltent Bistro and Feastfest Food Hall, both brand new for 2011.

Find more about catering

A Festival for Families

Meeting your favourite authors and seeing much-loved stories brought to life is great fun for kids, and this year's Festival has a wonderful programme of events and free activities to please children of all ages...more.

View all Family Events

Book It! The festival for families and young readers

Book It! is our festival-within-a-festival, which celebrates the world of children's literature. Take a look at the kind of events we'll have in 2011 for families and young readers.

Bonne Maman Big Read

This year's Bonne Maman Big Read explores Jospeh Heller's iconic Catch-22. Whether you're new to the book or simply want to revisit it, find out how you can get involved in one of our Big Read book groups here.

Write Away — our creative writing workshops

We offer a wide range of courses at the Literature Festival every year, for all levels of ability. Find out more about the workshops we offer, and see some of the tutors that have led them.

Festival Archives

Browse our brochure archives to view past events at our previous festivals.

View previous Festival brochures

Hotspots

Open air performance at the heart of the Festival Quarter - join us for something new, or take part yourself...find out more here

British Sign Language Event Programme

In partnership with Gloucestershire Deaf Association we are offering signing at a selection of Festival events this year. A British Sign Language interpreter will be on stage and we have allocated the most appropriate seats for members of the audience who would like to benefit from this service.

For more information and how to reserve your seats click here

The sounds of the Festival...

The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival by Cheltenham Festivals