Returning for its 14th year from 28 September – 1 October, Marlborough LitFest is excited to announce its 2023 Golding Speaker as the acclaimed Irish novelist, Sebastian Barry. This year’s festival programme is currently being put together and confirmed authors and events will be released over the coming months. Marlborough LitFest is also delighted to welcome Fermoie as its lead festival sponsor for 2023. Fermoie creates beautiful and original fine fabrics, all designed and manufactured entirely in-house at their studio and factory in Marlborough. Established in 2010 by Farrow & Ball founders Tom Helme and Martin Ephson, it now employs 50 people at its design studio, production facility and showroom in Marlborough.
Marlborough LitFest hosts an annual Golding Speaker to highlight the town’s long connection with the Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize winner, William Golding, at an event sponsored by William Golding Limited. Past Golding Speakers include Ali Smith, Elif Shafak, Ben Okri, Rose Tremain, Will Self, Lionel Shriver, Louis de Bernieres, Fay Weldon and Howard Jacobson.
The Dublin-born novelist, playwright and poet, Sebastian Barry, is considered to be one of Ireland’s finest contemporary writers, especially revered for his lyrical literary style. The 2018-21 Laureate for Irish Fiction, his novels have twice won the Costa Book of the Year award and he had two consecutive novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, A Long Long Way (2005) and the top ten bestseller The Secret Scripture (2008). His latest book, Old God’s Time, which was published on 23 February, is a beautiful novel about memory, love, mystery and reckoning. Barry will be speaking at LitFest on Friday 29 September at Marlborough Town Hall, in conversation with journalist and broadcaster Alex Clark.
This year’s festival will feature a varied programme of events for all ages including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and the annual Big Town Read. The festival aims to champion new, upcoming writers as well as established names and also encourage a love of reading in children and young people with author talks, competitions and our ongoing community outreach programme. The full LitFest programme will be available in the summer. For more information, visit www.marlboroughlitfest.org
LitFest would like to thank its new lead festival sponsor Fermoie and Golding Speaker event sponsor William Golding Limited.