Chip­ping Nor­ton Lit­er­ary Festival

We're delighted to announce a live literary event. ChipLitFest's founder and patron Clare Mackintosh introduces Hostage, her sensational new book. Just when you thought it might be safe to travel again! Make a reservation for this thrilling journey on a non-stop flight from London to Sydney. Clare's latest thriller is a hijack story where Mina the flight attendant has to decide between saving 100s of lives or the one that matters most...Adopt the brace position!

Thurs 24 June, 19:30 - 20:30 The Theatre

STATEMENT RE CHIPLITFEST 2021

Following the wretched but inevitable decision to cancel ChipLitFest 2020, we have to acknowledge the reality of not being able to guarantee the viability of ChipLitFest 2021 so, with very heavy hearts, there will be no weekend Festival in April 2021.
We are heartbroken not to be able to deliver the Festival for a second year running but we have to abide by the rules, of course, and not risk the health of any authors, audience, volunteers and the community.
We do hope to be able to continue our work in the community as soon as schools are open and happy to receive visits from authors. We also plan to bring you live literary events in the autumn when we can once again bring the best contemporary authors to our wonderful town.

The sixth ChipLitFest short story competition is now live.

First prize: £500

Judge: literary agent, Isobel Dixon

Sponsor: HW Fisher

Deadline: Sunday 16 May 2021

Entry fee: £5 for stories up to 2,500 words. £8 for stories up to 5,000 words

Free entries are available for low income writers, full details: click here

Full details: click here

Competition rules: click here

All three winning stories from the 2020 competition are featured here: the winner is Ice Cream Sunday by Jupiter Jones, second place is Bird, Man, Dog by Sean Baker and third place is Dirty Boy by James Hancock.

The top 25 chartered accountancy firm, HW Fisher, is joining the festival's list of loyal and generous supporters to become the new sponsor for our short story competition. We are really thrilled about this new working relationship with HW Fisher, it's a perfect match between festival and business as HW Fisher specialises in advising authors and journalists, helping them to manage their finances. They are keen litfest attenders and we look forward to welcoming the team to Chipping Norton as soon as possible.

HW Fisher's generous sponsorship means that we are now in a position to offer free entries to those writers on a low income. Details here.