Stuart WoodThe Cheltenham Literature Festival will become a hybrid event for 2020, combining 120 socially distanced live events with a digital platform.
Q&As, author interviews and panels will take place online and at three physical venues in Cheltenham. The digital platform is being created by agency Proud Robinson & Partners.
Speakers at the event will include Malcom Gladwell, Caitlin Moran, Sebastian Faulks, Greg James, Charlie Macksey, Dolly Alderton, Richard Osman, Mary Beard and Candice Brathwaite.
The festival will also be delivering a range of content for schools and families through a dedicated digital hub called “The Den”, available to teachers and schools nationwide.
The visual identity for the 2020 festival has been created by illustrator and ceramicist Stella Baggot, fusing the traditional charm of the hand-drawn world with a new digital-first approach.
Cheltenham’s commercial partners including The Times & Sunday Times, Waterstones, Baillie Gifford, Sky Arts, the University of Gloucestershire and Cunard will all be taking part in this new hybrid approach. New partners this year include Audible and Marquee TV.
Ian George, Director of Festivals at Cheltenham Festivals, commented: “Proud Robinson + Partners has been an amazing partner on this journey, guiding us through a fairly intensive period as we’ve pivoted from 70+ years of staging festivals and physical events, to embracing the “new normal”.
“Ultimately, we hope to be able to combine the reach of digital, with the enduring power of the written and spoken word to reach new audiences worldwide, delivering on our charitable mission of feeding the human spirit through science and the arts.”