Cheltenham Literature Festival partners with cancelled Kyiv event to showcase Ukraine authors

The Cheltenham Literature Festival will welcome writers from Ukraine in a programme co-curated with The International Book Arsenal Festival, Kyiv, with a series of events marking the importance of culture in dark times. 

The festival, sponsored by the Times and the Sunday Times, is part of the British Council’s UK/Ukraine Season of Culture this year. Organisers Oksana Schur and Yuliia Kozlovets said: “In 2022 when we have cancelled the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, it’s extremely important and a matter of honour for us to have our special Ukrainian programme in Cheltenham. To give voice to Ukrainian authors, public intellectuals, artists, to speak loudly from the platform of one of the best literary festivals in the world about our literature and about who we are, where we are and how we struggle for our common human values.” 

More than 500 events will take place at this year’s festival, returning in person between 7th October and 16th October, with almost 1,000 participants. Other guest curators include bestselling author Celeste Ng, who will discuss her brand new novel, Our Missing Hearts (Abacus), and develop events exploring themes of identity, the dystopia genre and how the personal and political entwine in literature. She said: “It’s truly an honour to serve as a guest curator at Cheltenham. At a time when our world feels increasingly fractured and discordant, gatherings like this are a much-needed haven, providing space for learning, exchanging ideas, and deeper connection. I’m thrilled to be returning to such a wonderful festival and excited to bring new voices to the thoughtful conversations that happen here." 

Poet, playwright and performer Inua Ellams will also curate a range of sessions across literature, theatre and film and their intersections, while film critic and podcaster Clarisse Loughrey will curate the festival’s very first film strand to be shown at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre. She said: “We have a tendency, as cultural critics, to draw very harsh lines between the arts. Literature, music, cinema—they’re treated as entirely different kingdoms, different planets even. But no matter the discipline, we’re all part of the same collective struggle to express the inexpressible. And as a professional critic and amateur bibliophile, I’m thrilled by the opportunity to break a few of those barriers down and explore the rich relationship between writing and filmmaking at Cheltenham Literature Festival.” 

Art historian, broadcaster and champion of women artists Katy Hessel will also host talks on the some of the greatest female titans in history while journalist and author Justin Webb goes in search of America’s blue-collar heartland and asks what we can learn from 1970s Britain as well as discussing his candid and moving memoir about growing up in a dysfunctional family.  

The team at The Week Junior return for their second year as family guest curators and Ann Morgan returns as literary explorer in residence. 

Nicola Tuxworth, head of programming, said: “Our guest curators are a unique and treasured part of the festival team each year – bringing fascinating insights and challenging and inspiring energy to the programme. In 2022 we are delighted to be working with this diverse and talented group who fizz with ideas and give so generously of their time.”