Get literary at Marlborough festival

Marlborough, situated in the picturesque rural north-east of Wiltshire, is an archetypal English market town with a bustling high street. As well as traditional charms, it also has a wonderfully cosmopolitan buzz, which will be much in evidence at the start of October when the Marlborough Literature Festival takes over the town.

Bringing together author talks, interviews, creative writing workshops, children’s events and open-mic poetry events over three days from October 2 to October 4, this year’s festival line up includes Booker Prize Long-listed author Andrew O’Hagan, Salley Vickers, historian Alison Weir, poet Gillian Clarke and Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky.

Salley Vickers, bestselling author of Miss Garnett’s Angel and Mr Golightly’s Holiday, will be headlining the first night of Marlborough LitFest 2015 on Friday, October 2, as this year’s Golding Speaker. The LitFest hosts an annual Golding Speaker to highlight Marlborough’s long connection with the Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize winner, William Golding.

The biggest selling female historian in the UK, Alison Weir is an expert on the Tudor period with subjects including Eleanor of Aquitaine, the princes in the tower, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. She will be talking about her latest historical biography, The Lost Tudor Princess, about Mary Douglas, Countess of Lennox, on Sunday, October 4.

Also on October 4, broadcaster Jon Show will interview writer and director Peter Kosminsky, who recently directed the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. (Incidentally, ‘Wulf’ Hall was a real place near Marlborough, and home to the Seymour family). Peter created many remarkable works for television and Hollywood including No Child of Mine, White Oleander and Wuthering Heights and will be discussing his life and career.

Read the the full brochure to get a taste of the wealth of events on offer.