Organisers at Wimbledon BookFest have announced plans for two summer festivals this year.
The ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Sunset’ festivals will be held in June and September for five days each on Wimbledon Common.
Wimbledon BookFest was one of the few live literary festivals to take place last year. It successfully pivoted its normal 10-day festival in October to hold a long weekend of coronavirus safe events in the summer, when a window of opportunity opened for open-air events.
The Last Days of Summer Weekend took place in September in a ‘roof-only’ marquee and featured a diverse line-up of speakers including Lemn Sissay, Jessie Burton, Ruby Wax, Andy Hamilton, Matthew Syed, as well as David Cameron’s only UK live event last year.
Organisers have since confirmed that the ‘Covid-Secure’ model will be further developed for Summer 2021.
Wimbledon Bookfest
"While things are still in a period of transition, it makes sense to use the wonderful opportunities we have in our beautiful natural setting of Wimbledon Common," said Festival Director, Fiona Razvi.
"People feel safer in the open-air and social distancing measures will be in place for some time.
"We very much hope we can return to our previous 10-day October model in Autumn 2022."
The Sunrise Festival is set to take place between 9-13 June.
The Sunset Festival is set to take place between 15-19 September.
The programmes for the festivals will be announced in May. For more information visit here.
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