Charleston Festival - Where Books Ideas & Creativity Bloom

Charleston was the one time home of the Bloomsbury painters Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) and Duncan Grant. It nestles under the South Downs between Brighton and Eastbourne.

All events take place in a traditional marquee in the grounds at Charleston Farmhouse. An excellent mixture of author events and workshops and this year is no exception.

When? May 15 to 25, 2015

Who?- 2015 -Speakers will include Amartya Sen, David Nicholls, Tom Stoppard, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Wayne McGregor, Monty Don, Colm Tóibín, Peter Carey, Helena Kennedy and Maggi Hambling.

Click here to download The Charleston Festival programme. -

Where? Charleston Farmhouse, Firle, East Sussex, England

How much? Various

Festival Website: www.charlestonfestival.org.uk

Twitter? @CharlestonTrust #charlestonfest

By Phone: 01273 709709

Past Festivals? Established - 1984

Authors who have appeared:

2014 - Eileen Atkins -Alan Bennett -Richard Dawkins -Carol Ann Duffy- David Hare Robert Harris- Nicholas Hytner- Karl Ove Knausgaard- Ian McEwan- Michael Morpurgo Lorrie Moore- Paul Muldoon -Grayson Perry Tim Winton

Barbara Kingsolver - Olivia Laing - Caroline Lucas - Alison MacLeod - Colum McCann - Patrick McGrath - Ray Monk - Charles Moore - William Nicholson - Juliet Nicolson - Audrey Niffenegger - William Nicholson - Alice Rawsthorn - George Saunders - Charles Suamarez Smith - Gillian Slovo - Frances Spalding - Juliet Stevenson - Heidi Thomas - Robert Thomson - Colm Tóibín - Jenny Uglow - Andrew Wilson - Melvyn Bragg - Thomas Kennelly

Alan Bennett, Zadie Smith, David Dimbleby, Bill Bryson, Rose Tremain, Fatima Bhutto and moreJeanette Winterson, Michael Morpurgo, Alain de Botton, Kate Atkinson, Patrick Gale, Jeremy Paxman, Markus Zusak, Hilary Mantel, Ann Wroe, Graham Swift, Virginia Nicholson, Vince Cable, Will Hutton, Robert Skidelsky, Jill Dawson, Bethan Roberts, A.S Byatt, Trsram Hunt, Sheila Robotham, Willian Feaver, Deborah Moggach, Julie Neuberger, Colm Toibin, Lynee Truss, William Fiennes, David Lodge, Steve Jones, Ruth Padel, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Chris Stewart, Richard Holmes, Jenny Uglow, , Anne Chisholm, Margaret Drabble, Deborah Devonshire, Charlotte Mosley, Adam Nicholson, Michael Holroyd, Eileen Atkins, Prunella Scales, Sam West, Tim WestMarina Lewycka, Kate Mosse, Gore Vidal, Salmun Rushdie, Antonia Fraser

2011 Festival

The 2011 Charleston Festival celebrated both the enduring roots of tradition and the innovative thinking we need to cope with 21st century challenges. From the 257 everyday phrases we get from the King James Bible to modern Jerusalem; from the classics to contemporary fiction; from Tibet to Stoke on Trent; from Shakespeare to Japanese Netsuke; from family sagas to killer apps; from entertainment to argument.