The Kenilworth Arts Festival will return this month bringing a host of award-winning musicians, best-selling authors and outstanding emerging talent to the town.

The new look festival, now in its second year, is the brainchild of Warwick post-graduate students Lewis Smith and Charlotte Thomas. It runs from 17 – 23 September with events taking place in a range of exciting and intimate venues around Kenilworth.

The line-up for this year’s festival includes acclaimed writers Sarah Moss, Kit de Waal, and Alys Fowler, internationally renowned jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock, respected guitarist John Smith and the former Stornoway frontman, Brian Briggs. A ‘spotlight series’ showcasing the work of emerging artists will feature hotly-tipped novelists Preti Taneja and Emma Flint, Warwickshire-based band The Rude Mechanicals, and the singer-songwriter Siobhan Wilson, whose new album has been lauded by Rolling Stone and BBC 6 Music.

The 2017 programme includes fringe events, workshops and exhibitions and will be launched again this year with Fiesta in Abbey Fields – a free, open air family event, featuring live music, theatre performances, street food, craft beer and an array of interactive activities.

Artistic director and organiser, Lewis Smith, a History PhD student at Warwick, said: “I’m very proud of this year’s line-up – we have some fantastic talent performing – both local and from around the UK.

“The festival is gaining momentum now. We’re building on last year’s success, with huge involvement again this year from the University of Warwick. We hope that the festival will showcase Kenilworth too – we have some wonderful venues in the town ranging from the spectacular to the intimate and we hope all our artists and punters enjoy the experience.”

Not only is the University of Warwick sponsoring the festival this year, but a number of writers, artists and arts organisations, as well as volunteers from the Warwick community are involved in the week-long programme.

• Author, Sarah Moss, Professor of English at Warwick, is speaking at the festival on the 19 September, at the Talisman Theatre, in conversation with Kit de Waal and Alex Clark.

• Author, Preti Taneja, an early career research fellow at Warwick, is speaking at the festival on Thursday 21 September at Kenilworth Books.

• Jane Commane, a graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme and director at Nine Arches Press, is curating an evening of poetry on Friday 22 September at the Tudor Stables in Kenilworth Castle, with readings from established poets and emerging talent.

• The Warwick Arts Centre is running activities at Fiesta, from 10am until 6pm on Sunday 17 September in Abbey Fields.

• Motionhouse, whose artistic director Kevin Finnan is an Associate Professor in Theatre Studies at Warwick, is running dance workshops for children at St Johns Church on Saturday 23 September.

For tickets and more information on these and the many more events taking place across the week, please visit http://www.kenilworthartsfestival.co.uk/

September 6, 2017

For further information contact:

Andrea Cullis

Media Relations Manager

02476 528050

07825 314874

a dot cullis at warwick dot ac dot uk