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Welcome to The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival
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As well as our packed programme of events, there’s plenty more to discover on site and around town. Look out for free pop-up performances, poetry, family fun and literature where you least expect it!
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FREE
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Free pop-up performances Free family events Free Lit Crawl
Edinburgh
Brookl yn Rd
FREE POP-UP PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS AROUND CHELTENHAM
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Hesters Way
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Choose Your Adventure – Live!
This year’s Big Read is Alice Walker’s award-winning novel, The Colour Purple. It has captured the hearts of millions and has become a modern classic that is still fresh, relevant and shocking.
Sign up and start your quest on the Promenade or in Imperial Square
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…around town
A battle between the forces of good and evil on the streets of Cheltenham. Ideal for fans of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings, start at page one and then set off on your adventure. How you complete your quest – and what strange creatures you meet along the way – is up to you. A live adventure story game around Cheltenham town centre, which is for adults and children alike. Works best for groups of 2 or more and ages 7+ Under 12s must be accompanied by an adult Groups can start every few minutes. Play takes approx 1 hour
A Way With Words 6 Hesters Way Library Tickets £2 from our Box Office on 01242 850 270
A Way with Words, Cheltenham Festivals’ community outreach project in Cheltenham West, culminates in a series of short performances in Hesters Way. Discover the richness and diversity of this area through vibrant stories woven from conversations with local communities and individuals, and presented in unexpected settings. 3
We’ve created a multi-media experience in Cheltenham Library for the duration of the Festival. Children and young people respond to stories from the older generation through writing, drawing and sound recordings. For more information: www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/awww
Free Family Activities
Saturday 8 October, 2-4pm
Poets for Hire
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Typewriters at the ready. Give them a title and the poets will write you a poem while you wait.
Join us for a chat and a cup of tea in this informal session to find out more about the book and share your thoughts. Saturday 8 October, 12.45pm for a 1pm start
The Colour Purple Flashmob and Book Giveaway The High Street
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Share the joy of reading! Meet at 12.45pm, wearing something purple and collect your free copy of the book. At 1pm we will all converge in Cheltenham High Street to read. You can sit or stand, read aloud or to yourself, and then we will give away copies of the book to passers by. To register your interest and for more info visit cheltenhamfestival.com/ around-town
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Come along to our magic school, solve the riddles and look out for a stilt walking wizard.
Saturday 8 October, 11am
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7–16 October 2016
Saturday 15 October, 11am-2pm
Wizards and Witches
Cheltenham Library
The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival
As well as our packed programme of events, there’s plenty more for all the family to discover.
Big Read book group
Saturday 8 October, 1pm, 2.30pm and 4pm
Cheltenham Library
7–16 October 2016
The Big Read Box Office 01242 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com #cheltlitfest
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October, 12pm-4pm
Alongside all the free activities happening around Cheltenham and on Imperial Square, The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival presents an exciting programme jam packed full of fantastic events.
Sunday 16 October, 11am-2pm Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October, 12pm-4pm
Real Life Tales
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Imperial Square
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Sometimes the most incredible stories are the ones that are true. Look out for tales from the people of Cheltenham appearing around town. We’re creating strange and wonderful pop-up festival spaces, combining impromptu performances, listening stations, an art wall, home-made books and a postbox to the future. You can grab a seat on a sofa on the High Street, relax, watch the world go by and read some real life tales. Musician and poet Rider Shafique and photographer Khali Ackford have also been working with people locally, including the Black and Hindu communities of Cheltenham, to collect and share stories from all generations. Explore audio, photography and transcriptions of stories from those who made Cheltenham their home and their descendants.
Superheroes
Saturday 8 October, 3.30pm
The Hip Hop Shakespeare Company
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Founded by BAFTA and MOBO awardwinning artist and Festival Guest Curator Akala, this incredible company blend music with the words of William Shakespeare through rap, poetry and hip hop.
Hannah Shaw: Bear On A Bike 6
100 Years of Roald Dahl
Join Hannah Shaw, award-winning author and illustrator for action-packed stories followed by an exciting drawing session.
Jacqueline Wilson
Derren Brown
Vivienne Westwood
Akala
Sara Pascoe
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Discovery Trail
Saturday 8 October, 11am-2pm 1
Sunday 9 October, 11am-2pm
Beatrix Potter
Alan Carr Throughout the festival
Join us to explore The Hundred Acre Wood, build a den, play Pooh Sticks or pin Eeyore’s tail back on.
Saturday 15 October, 11.30am
Hesters Way Library Ages 3+ and their families
Test your powers, see how far your hero can fly and learn the tricks of the superhero trade.
Come and enjoy arts and crafts, storytelling, treasure hunts and challenges themed around family favourites. Meet Peter Rabbit and friends and come dressed as your favourite book character to join in our fancy dress parade and prize-giving.
Winnie the Pooh
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Help find Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s washing, get your rabbit ears on and see how many radishes you can collect without being caught by Mr McGregor.
To mark 100 years since Roald Dahl’s birth, take part in our phizz-whizzing quiz inspired by characters like the BFG, Willy Wonka and Matilda. Pick up your entry form at the Dean Close marquee.
Dream Jars and more Capture your dream in a jar or find out what your Roald Dahl character name is. Delumptious!
Featuring Raymond Blanc Derren Brown Alan Carr Nick Clegg Jilly Cooper Sebastian Faulks Ranulph Fiennes Jonathan Safran Foer Ian Hislop Reginald D. Hunter Nadiya Hussain Ian McEwan Alice Roberts Cheryl Strayed Isy Suttie Vivienne Westwood and many more
Book now at cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature
Saturday 8 October 5pm ‘til late
5–6pm
Burning Eye Books 1
Waterstones
Editor-in-chief Clive Birnie presents a showcase of recently published poets from the Burning Eye stable. Expect full volume entertainment and poetry with punch that demonstrates why Burning Eye is Britain’s leading publisher of spoken word.
6–7.30pm
The Odditorium 9
Proud Lion
Welcome to the Odditorium, a Guardian Top 50 podcast and a portal into the fringes of culture; its mavericks and pranksters, adventurers and occultists, artists, comics and even the odd chef.
6.15–7pm
6.15–7.15pm
Order! Order! The Rise and Fall of Political Drinking 11
I Walk on Fire – A Celebration of Dylan Thomas
The Bayshill
Formal House (Main Room)
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What do Churchill, Nixon and Farage have in common? Booze – and lots of it! Join BBC political correspondent Ben Wright at the bar for a whistle-stop tour through the rich history of politics and drinking.
Specially curated by The Cheltenham Poetry Festival, The Playhouse actors perform iconic poems, Under Milk Wood and Dylan’s humorous short stories. Bring along one of your favourite Dylan Thomas poems to share in the open mic…
8–9.30pm
The Cheltenham Underground Takeover
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Rolling performances from 6.30pm
• All events are free, unticketed and open to all. Bring a group or come alone. • Given the unconventional setting of some events, we regret that not all are wheelchair accessible but there will always be an alternative session that is
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7.15–8.15pm
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Formal House Courtyard, 6pm Crescent Bakery, 7pm
Penniless Cove is the brainchild of Welsh singer and song-writer Phoebe Osborne. Find them in some surprise locations along the Crawl and discover their ginsoaked folk pop. “Fans of Tori Amos, Katy Carr, Abi Wade and anyone with ears will love it.” For Folk’s Sake, 2015
Boston Tea Party
Since first being poured in January 2015, Milk Poetry has become a firm fixture of the Bristol spoken word scene. Compere Malaika Kegode brings you the freshest, tastiest poetry from the South-West and beyond.
Penniless Cove 5
Lit Crawl Cheltenham is a project of The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Litquake Foundation. San Francisco’s Litquake literary festival runs October 7-15, 2016, with affiliated Lit Crawls in San Francisco, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Austin, Los Angeles, Iowa City, Seattle, London, Helsinki, Portland, Chicago, Denver and Cheltenham.
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Milk Poetry 6pm & 7pm
6–8pm
Poets for Hire 5
Formal House Courtyard
Typewriters at the ready. Give them a title and the poets will write you a poem while you wait.
With the publication of The Rosie Project and its sequel, The Rosie Effect, the world fell in love with the socially challenged, unlucky-in-love Professor Don Tillman. In this very special event, bestselling author Graeme Simsion revisits some of Don’s most hilarious episodes.
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7–8.30pm
• If a venue is full, staff will direct you to a different session on the Crawl
Keep your eyes peeled while on the Crawl. You might just find some surprises along the way…
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• There is no age restriction on Lit Crawl (until the Crawl reaches Subtone, which is 18+) but please note that some sessions may contain adult content
Formal House (Main Room)
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Staff and students from the successful Creative Writing programme at the University of Gloucestershire deliver flash fictions full of love, laughter, existential crisis, and loss.
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Key Lit Crawl Info:
Kingpins Barbershop
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Flash! Love and Death and Other Things
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6–7pm
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• Enjoy! And please share your Lit Crawl experiences on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @cheltfestivals #cheltlitfest
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Live music from the curators behind Cheltenham’s cult Secret House Shows. Followed by main showcase at Formal House at 8pm.
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Badlands
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9.30–10pm
Don Tillman’s Lessons in Love
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The Cheltenham Underground: Pop-up Performance
Cheltenham Minster, St Mary’s
Andrew Bate is your guide through the sublime and haunted world of Edgar Allan Poe. Rediscover Poe’s gothic masterpiece ‘The Raven’ in the atmospheric surroundings of St Mary’s graveyard at twilight.
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5–5.45pm
Welcome to our very first Lit Crawl! For one night only we take over a section of Cheltenham for a fast-paced evening of pop-up events and quirky literary happenings. From record shops to comic book stores, barbershops to graveyards, pick your own route through a series of live events celebrating the written and spoken word, culminating in one big after party – all completely FREE. This is literature done differently. Join us and get drunk on words.
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Bringing you the best in local live music and spoken word from the curators behind Cheltenham’s cult Secret House Shows.
Edgar Allan Poe: Master of the Macabre
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Formal House (Main Room)
Lust.Cruelty. Madness. Deception: Roald Dahl’s Adult Tales 4
Formal House (Bike Room)
We all know Roald Dahl’s treasured childhood tales of chocolate factories and big friendly giants. Tonight we venture into the delightfully disturbing world of his adult stories. Join our performers for a foray into the dark world of his thrillingly sinister tales...
9–10.30pm
Mother Foucault 12
Subtone
Join leading spoken word artist Joelle Taylor as your host for a night of intellectual uprising, powerful poetry and music with special guest Salena Godden.
After Party... 10.30pm ‘til late
The Sound of the Sunken Foal 12
Subtone
Genre defying Cheltenham based DJ Collective creating good vibes with eclectic beats.