Class Festival postponed until 2024

The Class Festival, the celebration of working-class writing founded by author Natasha Carthew, has been postponed until 2024.

Shortlisted for FutureBook Discover Award 2021 in its inaugural year, the festival, based in Bristol, boasted “a far reaching ambition to enhance, encourage and increase representation from working-class backgrounds across the country, while connecting authors, readers, agents and editors".

Carthew said: “It is with deep regret that I have had to make the hard decision to move the next Class Festival to 2024. 

“I am always honest with our supporters, and so hand on heart I have to say that the decision was beyond my control, we lost a valuable partner this year, in part due to Arts Council funding cuts, which meant it was harder to pull in sponsorship. But the good news is The Bookseller, Midas PR and Penguin Random House are still fully on board to support the festival in 2024.”

In December, the festival announced it was partnering with Midas PR for Class Fest 2023, and Penguin Random House and The Bookseller were announced as supporters for the 2023 iteration of the festival.

Carthew, guest edited the first working-class edition of The Bookseller. Her memoir Undercurrent is scheduled to be published by Hodder & Stoughton on 13th April 2023.