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Stratford Literary Festival

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The Stratford Literary Festival is a prominent literary event held in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Each year, it attracts thousands of visitors. The festival takes place over six days in May, followed by a shorter series of events in autumn. The festival encompasses a variety of events, such as celebrity author discussions, debates, and workshops, drawing in a diverse range of speakers, including internationally renowned authors, presenters, and emerging talent.

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The Stratford Literary Festival is a registered charity encouraging the love of books and writing. The bi-annual festival has been taking place in Stratford-upon-Avon since 2008 and has evolved from a weekend event in spring to a series of spring and autumn events held at various venues throughout the town.

Previous speakers include Pam Ayres, Ray Mears, Ruth Wilson, Dan Walker, Alexander Armstrong, Dame Judi Dench, Greg Doran, Dame Penelope Wilton, Brian Cox and Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

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The festival aims to promote writers' work, sell books, encourage discoverability, and promote the benefits of reading and writing for education, literacy, and well-being on a local level. The festival organisers also work closely with the local community, running literary outreach events in schools, projects with older people, and writing workshops in prisons.

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Pragnell has been a proud supporter of the Stratford Literary Festival since 2023, and earlier this year, we were delighted to sponsor the Fashion Director of The Times, Anna Murphy, and David Nichols, author of the best-selling novel One Day.

Our flagship showroom has been located in the heart of Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, since 1954; by encouraging this pivotal event, we aim to help the local community thrive, attract people to the area, and contribute to the local economy.

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An exciting program of events has been announced for this year’s autumn festival, which runs on the 8th, 25th-27th October 2024.

Confirmed speakers include Dan Snow, Jodi Picoult, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Dame Harriet Walter, Jess Philips, Adrian Chiles, Anton Du Beke, Jonathan Dimbleby and Rev Richard Coles.

This year, Pragnell is delighted to sponsor Dame Harriet Walter, the esteemed Shakespearean actor, also renowned for her on-screen roles, including Succession and Sense and Sensibility. Dame Harriet talks about her new book She speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said, featuring new parts for thirty of Shakespeare's women, letting them speak their minds.

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