ALDEBURGH INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL
November 2008 (dates tbc)

Last year: 50 events (16 free) featuring readings, performances, discussions, close readings, lectures, workshops, craft talks, exhibitions, poetry quiz, open mic and Young Poets prizes. The line-up of 30 poets will feature leading British names such as Connie Bensley, Polly Clark, Alice Oswald, Fiona Sampson, Peter Sansom and Anne Stevenson alongside major overseas poets including John F. Deane (Eire), Taha Muhammad Ali (Palestine), Jacques Rancourt (France) and from America - Louis Jenkins, Anne Marie Macari and Gerald Stern. The Festival celebrated book launches for Taha Muhammad Ali’s first UK publication – So What: New and Selected Poems 1971-2005 (Bloodaxe); Peter Sansom’s first book for children, The Ice-cream Carpet (Smith Doorstop); and Faber’s Letters of Ted Hughes edited by Christopher Reid.

Contact: Box Office
Tel: +44 (0)1728 687110
Website: www.aldeburgh.co.uk
Alternatively contact The Poetry Trust
Tel: +44 (0)1986 835950
Website: www.thepoetrytrust.org

BOOK NOW! RICHMOND'S LITERATURE FESTIVAL
November 2008 (dates tbc)

In its 17th year running, the Book Now! Literature Festival 2008 returns to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The festival features some of the most gifted and fascinating contemporary writers including Romesh Gunesekera, Blake Morrison and Esther Freud so don’t miss out on our exclusive events, including book signings from all the authors.

Contact: Rachel Tranter (Head of Arts)
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Arts Development Team
Orlean House Gallery
Riverside
Twickenham
TW1 3DJ
Tel: +44 (0)20 8831 6494
Fax: +44 (0)20 8940 7568
E-Mail: artsinfo@richmond.gov.uk
Web links: www.richmond.gov.uk/literature

CHORLEYWOOD LITERARY FESTIVAL
Chorleywood, Herts
7 - 9 November 2008

A variety of events to suit all ages and tastes is in the planning stages.  Last years' events included leading authors, poetry, an evening of crime writers, a children's storyteller, winetasting with words and music, and a creative writing workshop.

Contact: The Chorleywood Bookshop
4 New Parade
Chorleywood
Hertfordshire
WD3 5NJ
Tel: +44 (0)1923 283566
Web links: www.cwlitfest.org

DYLAN THOMAS FESTIVAL: A REFUSAL TO MOURN
The Dylan Thomas Centre
November 2008 (dates tbc)

Last year: Dylan Thomas Centre's eighth annual festival, takes the theme of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Exploring Dylan's war poems, and other writing during this period, as well as celebrating other War poets, and contemporary writing and art of relevance to the theme, in a mixture of readings, talks, theatre, music, art, film and celebrity guests. Among those already confirmed are bestselling author Louis de Bernieres, and Welsh Book of the Year winner Owen Sheers. There will also be a Poetry Review event with poet and editor Fiona Sampson, who will give an editor's workshop, outlining what poets need to do to get their work published in the magazine, and then chair a special Poetry Review reading with Peter Porter and John Fuller.

Contact: David Woolley
The Dylan Thomas Centre
Somerset Place
Swansea
Wales
SA1 1RR
Tel: +44 (0)1792 463980
Fax: +44 (0)1792 463993
E-Mail: dylanthomas.lit@swansea.gov.uk
Web links: http://www.dylanthomas.com

FOLKSTONE LITERARY FESTIVAL
November 2008 (dates tbc)

Last year in its sixth year, the Folkestone Literary Festival’s most ambitious programme to date featured over 70 speakers in a packed schedule promising 9 days of entertaining live performances. Authors including Terry Jones, David Frost, Roy Hattersley, Nicholas Parsons, Tony Benn, Michael Morpurgo, David Starkey, James Naughtie, Sandra Howard and John Humphrys will be taking part alongside a host of entertainers, poets and creatives in a week which has fast become one of the region’s most important cultural events.  The Festival programme included History and Environment strands; a special Children’s event including performances from former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo; family reading sessions, a new event for young people featuring Colin Foreman, film screenings (including Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’), a Cabaret evening, book swap, exhibitions, tours of the town and more.

Contact: John Prebble (Festival Organiser)
The Creative Foundation
The Block
65-69 Tontine Street
Folkestone
Kent
CT20 1JR
Tel: +44 (0)1303 842192
Fax: +44 (0)1303 245799
E-Mail: info@metropole.org.uk, info@folkestonelitfest.com
Web links: http://www.folkestonelitfest.co.uk

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MOUNTAINEERING LITERATURE
Kendal
November 2008 (dates tbc)

The 20th Festival on the theme ‘Adventure or Madness?’ featured Canadanian Geoff Powter’s Strange and Dangerous Dreams: The Fine Line Between Adventure and Madness (The Mountaineers, 2006), from the USA Clint Willis’s The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragic Story of Climbing’s Greatest Generation (Robson Books, 2006) and also from the USA Jeff Long and his novel The Wall (Simon and Schuster, 2006), plus many other authors.

Contact: Dr Terry Gifford
University of Leeds
15 Ednaston Court
Ednaston
Ashbourne
DE6 3BA
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1335 360581
Fax: +44 (0)113 343 9148
E-Mail: t.gifford@chi.ac.uk
Web links: http://www.festivalofmountaineeringliterature.co.uk/Festival.htm

INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRITING FESTIVAL
November 2008 (tbc)

New work from all over the world brought to life at the Warehouse Theatre's annual International Playwriting Festival. Celebrating the work of new playwrights and consolidating the theatre's role as a powerhouse of new writing.

Contact: Rose Marie Vernon (Festival Administrator)
Warehouse Theatre
Dingwall Road
Croydon
CR0 2NF
Tel: +44 (0)20 8681 1257/+44 (0)20 8680 4060 (Box office)
Fax: +44 (0)20 8688 6699
E-Mail: info@warehousetheatre.co.uk
Web links: http://www.warehousetheatre.co.uk/ipf.html

LANCASTER LITFEST
Dukes Theatre on Moor Lane
November 2008 (dates tbc)

Poetry and fiction with a programme of readings, which in the past has included Atukwei Okai, Maggie Gee, Trevor Griffiths, Peter Plate, Jackee Batanda, Bernardine Evaristo, Diran Adebayo, Rodge Glass, Vicki Feaver and Robert Crawford. Details yet to come of this year's festival.

Contact: Andy Darby (Artistic Director)
Litfest
PO Box 751
Lancaster
LA1 1YQ
Tel: +44 (0)1524 62166/+44 (0)1524 598500 (Duke's Theatre Box Office)
Fax: +44 (0)1524 841216
E-Mail: all@litfest.org
Web links: http://www.litfest.org

NORTHERN CHILDREN'S BOOK FESTIVAL
Blyth Community College, Northumberland
November 2008 (dates tbc)

NCBF is Europe's largest children's book festival. More than 40 of the UK's finest children's writers, poets, illustrators and storytellers are taking part this year.

Contact: Ann Key (Chair)
22 Highbury
Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 3DY
Tel: +44 (0)191 281 3289
E-Mail: info@ncbf.org.uk
Web links: http://www.ncbf.org.uk

SOUTHWOLD LITERATURE FESTIVAL
6 - 10 November 2008

Part of the Ways with Words series of literature festivals, Southwold Literature Festival is held in a small seaside resort, gives people a chance to engage with books and ideas. Speakers at past festivals included: Jeremy Paxman, Melvyn Bragg, Victoria Glendinning, Edna & Denis Healey, Jenny Uglow, Jan Dalley, Shirley Williams and many more.

Details availbale from July 2007.
Contact: Kay Dunbar
Ways with Words
Droridge Farm
Dartington,Totnes
Devon
TQ9 6JQ
Tel: +44 (0)1803 867373 (Box office)
Fax: +44 (0)1803 863688
E-Mail: admin@wayswithwords.co.uk
Web links: http://www.wayswithwords.co.uk

TEXT FESTIVAL (BIENNIAL)
3 November 2007- 28 May 2008

An international festival of contemporary poetry and text art that will consist of exhibitions, public art commissions, performances and workshops. Artists and poets participating in the festival include Lawrence Weiner, Caroline Bergvall, cris cheek, Alan Halsey, Hester Reeve, Shaun Pickard, Phil Davenport, and Caroline Thompson.

Contact: Tony Trehy (Arts and Museums Manager)
Bury Art Gallery and Museum
Moss St
Bury
BL9 ODR
Tel: +44 (0)161 253 5878
E-Mail: T.Trehy@bury.gov.uk
Web links: http://www.textfestival.com

UEA INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL
October - December 2008 (dates tbc)

Speakers in the past have included Michael Ondaatje, Nawal El Saadawi, Doris Lessing, P. D. James, Claire Tomalin, Michael Frayn, Roy Hattersley, Stephen Poliakoff and Michael Holroyd.

The Arthur Miller Centre
Lecture Theatre 1
University of East Anglia
Norwich
Box Office: + 44 (0)1603508050