Since its inception, the Bertarelli Foundation has been a proud supporter of the Stoke-on-Trent Literary Festival. Now in its fifth year, the Festival was initiated by then-local MP Tristram Hunt and is held at the Emma Bridgwater Factory in the city.
The 2018 Festival, which ran from the 7th to the 9th of June, was the best yet, attracting packed audiences to hear fascinating talks from a series of leading authors from across the literary spectrum: History, fiction – both adult and child – politics, food, poetry and more. Highlights included Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse, Jonathan Dimbleby, the Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith, Radio 4’s Editor Sarah Sands, historian Dan Jones, and Sophie Kinsella. As part of this year’s Festival, the BBC’s Any Questions was also recorded at the city’s Potteries Museum.
As well as bringing such names to Stoke-on-Trent, the Festival and the Foundation work to involve local schools and youth groups, both by welcoming them to all events free of charge and by hosting events with the authors to encourage local young people to aim as high as possible. This year, both Prue Leith and Dan Jones gave inspirational talks.
More information about the Festival is here.
