Authors ~ Storytellers ~ Poets ~ Musicians ~ Acrobats
Discussions ~ Readings ~ Talks ~ Performances
SUNDAY 11th MAY
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES DAY – for all ages, children, and families.
Light refreshments, snacks, and lunches available on site!
Lower Shaw Farm, West Swindon SN5 5PJ
Tel 01793 535534
10am - 4pm ~ 11th May ~ £6
Tickets also available on the day at the gate!
10am onwards Campfire Storytelling with Steve Mynard. Head for the Circle Garden, take a seat by the campfire, and Steve will take you round the world with stories from here, there, and everywhere.
10.30am Circus Games with Darine Flanagan from Farm Yard Circus. Time to warm up for the day with hoola-hooping, juggling, acrobatics, and more. Great physical fun for almost all ages.
11.30am Piggery Jokery by Hand to Mouth Theatre. A wonderful whimsical perambulation through the seasons, touching on the circular nature of time, as told by the Green Man and his hurdy-gurdy playing Droning Crone and their troupe of rag-bag characters. Suitable for all ages from little acorns to old oaks. A Festival favourite!
12.30 kOrky Paul and Winnie the Witch will perform a story – interspersed with drawings - with lots of help from Wilbur, children, and childlike grownups too!
Fledgling artists will be inspired and lucky magic ticket holders will win kOrky drawings. When kOrky puts pen and paints to paper, with Winnie, Wilbur, and your help, magical things happen!
1.30pm Music & Singing Workshop with Sarah the Sufi – a fun, enriching, and interactive singing session, exploring breathing techniques and Indian sargam scale of notes "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa" and even the chance to learn a new song!
2.30pm Piggery Jokery by Hand to Mouth Theatre – in case you missed the first, here’s a second performance!
3pm Finale Performance – with Farm Yard Circus. To end the day, gravity-defying fun and frolics on the front lawn.
All day, look out for WATERSTONES BOOKSHOP with their wonderful selection of books for the young and young at heart!
ALSO, there may be a DRESSING UP time, a TREASURE HUNT, TALKING with the ANIMALS, and maybe even a little bit of PLAY, ROPE-SWINGING, and HAMMOCK-JUMPING in the BIG BARN!
Come, and have fun!
Festival Finale - where the Festival ends!
FESTIVAL FINALE - with a feast of stories, poems, songs, acrobatics, circus, wordplay, music, and pleasure aplenty, this promises to be a fitting Finale for the thirty-second Swindon Festival of Literature.
Arts Centre, Devizes Road SN1 4BJ
Tel 01793 535534
7pm ~ 11th May ~ £10 (£9)
Singer-songwriter Sarah Yaseen, aka Sarah the Sufi, on darbouka and guitar, will delve into themes of faith and love, offering both spiritual depth and cultural richness.
Writer, performance poet, and podcaster Estelle Phillips, will present and perform The Headless Horseman, a dramatic tale of love, legend, and nature, and the spectre of a Bronze Age Warrior.
Zimbabwean multi-instrumentalist Tawanda Mapanda will bring a blend of saxophone, marimba, vocals, and possible even audience participation to proceedings.
Singing duo John Holmes and Jen Bell, take on the world with stringed instruments and a love of prog rock, jazz, and folk. Songwriters for the BBC, stage, and screen, they sing the big themes of life, love, and even politics.
Ethiopian acrobat extraordinaire Daniel Ayalew will take his phenomenal Rolla Bolla act to new and glittering heights!
Homegrown, gravity-defying Jacob Hi-Ho will bring this Festival Finale to a close with unpredictable props, including the wonderfully weathered watering can.
Can’t wait? Nor can we!
A final celebration of words, music, & circus skills!