CHIPLITFEST 2019

ChipLitFest 2019 runs from 25 - 28 April. Festival timetable here. Tickets go on sale from 25 Feb 2019 for Festival Friends and on general sale from 4 March 2019. By becoming a Festival Friend, you get priority booking for our amazing lineup of extraordinary authors AND you support our programme of work with young people. Sign up to become a Friend today! All details here. During priority booking week, 25 Feb - 3 March 2019, you can become a ChipLitFest Friend via the Theatre Box Office by phone 01608 642350 or in person (2 Spring St, Chipping Norton OX7). You can call in, join the Friends scheme for £25 and buy all your Festival tickets in one transaction.

VERY SPECIAL PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT WITH PROF JIM AL-KHALILI

Andrew McKay

We are thrilled to bring this very special event to ChipLitFest ahead of the Festival to coincide with the publication of Professor Jim Al-Khalili's stunning debut novel, Sunfall. Cutting-edge science with rip-roaring race against time storytelling in a futuristic thriller about an end of the world event that could actually happen...Tues 16 April, The Theatre. (tickets on sale now)

Become a Festival Friend or join the Family

The ChipLitFest Friends scheme offers members the opportunity to support the Festival and its charitable aims financially. We suggest a minimum donation of £25 but will be happy with any amount you feel able to give. For those with larger pockets, why not join the Family for any donation over £150. A key benefit to Friends and Family is priority booking. A key benefit to ChipLitFest is supporting our work with vulnerable young people. And a benefit to all is sustaining our innovative community Festival that celebrates literature in all its forms. Details about the Friends and Family scheme are here.

JOHN SIMPSON

Simon Weller

A very exciting late addition to our 2019 Festival lineup, veteran broadcaster John Simpson is coming to ChipLitFest as his truly thrilling novel, Moscow, Midnight, is published in paperback. We are delighted to host an event with this legend of television journalism and author of rip-roaring thrillers full of irrefutable inside knowledge. Get your tickets fast! 6pm Fri 26 April, The Theatre. Details here.

Gerrard Gethings

Kate Spicer

Kate and Wolfy Spicer have teamed up as a mutual self-help duo, each rescuing the other. Lost Dog is the brilliant, life-affirming tragicomic memoir that describes their relationship.

Philip Mould & Company

Philip Mould OBE

Art dealer, author and broadcaster Philip Mould joins us to discuss paintings of childhood and the new exhibition at Compton Verney.

Nicci French

Nicci Gerrard and her husband, Sean French, who write as Nicci French, join another crime-writing couple, Ambrose Parry to talk about the joys (and horrors) of writing with your partner.

Prof Kate Williams

Best-selling author and broadcaster Kate Williams’ Rivals Queens offers an electrifying new perspective on Elizabeth and Mary, and the most important relationship of their lives – that which they had with one another.

Greg James

Alan Rusbridger

Long-time editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger brings his powerful study of the news media, Breaking News: the remaking of journalism and why it matters now, to ChipLitFest.

Pal Hansen

Jo Brand

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman and sometimes it's time to be a hard woman. The inimitable Jo Brand's latest, Born Lippy, is a book for all those times.

Colin Thomas

Frank Gardner

The BBC's Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner combines his international broadcasting and journalistic career with best-selling thriller writing. Ultimatum, the second Luke Carlton novel is out now.

Emma Freeman

Gina Miller

Gina Miller came to prominence when she successfully challenged the UK government's authority to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval. Her book, Rise, is an extraordinary account of what it means to stand up for justice, and for yourself, no matter the cost.

Taken from real life

Does everyone have a novel in them – or is it just journalists? Laura Parker does some background research.

Laura Parker

James Betts

Modern Classics

Sixth former Pheebs reviews The Children of Jocasta in anticipation of Natalie Haynes Festival appearance to discuss her forthcoming novel, A Thousand Ships.