In the UK Sky Arts champions book festivals as The Book Show takes to the road


 Sky Arts Get Creative Fund to encourage creative talents will launch at book festivals

From 14 October on Sky Arts 1 HD at 7pm
sky.com/books

The Book Show, the UK’s leading television programme dedicated entirely to books will return for a fifth series and announces its upcoming tour of some of the UK’s best book festivals.

Over the course of the next series, the team will broadcast from The Cheltenham Literature Festival in October, the Bath Literature Festival in February, Words by the Water in Cumbria in March and the Hay Literature Festival in May. Sky Arts has also pledged to support one more festival, to be confirmed in due course.

The new series will launch on the 14 October with a broadcast from Cheltenham, the oldest literature festival in the world, and one of the largest. The first guests to join Mariella will be the award-winning and hugely popular authors Sebastian Faulks, Susan Hill and James Ellroy.

Building on the existing Book Show presence at the Hay Festival and Cheltenham, this increased coverage of literary festivals, championing some of the smaller festivals as well as the more established – represents Sky Arts commitment to books, both on and off screen

Presenter of The Book Show, Mariella Frostrup will welcome some of the biggest names at each of the festivals to the sofa, discussing their latest works and favourite reads in front of a live audience of festival attendees. Previous guests have included Melvyn Bragg, Hilary Mantel, Martin Amis, Ian Rankin, Kate Mosse, Grayson Perry, Christopher Hitchens, Simon Schama, Quentin Blake, Diana Athill, Alastair Campbell and PD James.

The Book Show will feature three studio interviews with some of the most exciting names in the literary world, including best-selling writers, celebrity authors and the biggest names behind the most interesting new reads. Each guest will discuss their most recent work, what inspires them and their writing process. The show will also feature films about literary subjects and issues; the first two films will be a celebration of Agatha Christie with crime-writer Peter James, and a literary tour of The Lady with Rachel Johnson. Popular features will make their return including Bedside Table, which sees a writer talking about what they are reading and Book Club Recommendations, focusing on a bookshop from around the UK, and their recommended reading for book clubs. This season, there will be a new feature which sees guests revealing the books they feel everyone should read by the age of 21.

Sky Arts will also launch its Sky Arts Get Creative Fund at the festivals, which offers one person per festival the chance to win £1,000 to fund a course on their creative passions. Visitors to the festivals will be invited to describe why they feel they deserve a scholarship, and which talent they would like to pursue. The winner will be asked to write a weekly blog on the Sky Arts website as they develop their talents.

Mariella Frostrup, presenter of The Book Show commented: “It’s very exciting to open our fifth series with this new commitment. Book festivals play an important part in inspiring readers and by taking The Book Show to the festivals, we can do even more to bring the experiences and stories of some wonderful authors to life.”

“Supporting book festivals with The Book Show is a hugely exciting opportunity for Sky Arts. It will build on Sky Arts’ reputation for championing brilliant authors and bringing our viewers closer to the very best of literature and books on television,” adds channel director John Cassy. “The festivals are a wonderful opportunity to build the ever increasing passion for books in this country, and we are delighted that we are able to support both established and burgeoning festivals.”

Sky Arts produces a dedicated website which acts as a hub for viewers, featuring weekly updates on guests, extract downloads of the featured books, competitions, recommended reads and an extensive video archive of past authors. sky.com/books

Footnote:
The Bookman must admit to going a deep shade of green with envy when reading the above press release !