Is Cheltenham beyond parody?

A books bash these days has to offer Geri and Geoff Hurst and that bloke out of Radiohead

SOME TIME AGO PRIVATE EYE produced a quite funny parody of that year’s Cheltenham Literature Festival programme. The distinguished literary journalist John Walsh would be interviewing A.N. Actress about her latest memoir, Ghostwritten. Sir Michael Palin would reminisce about yaks he had befriended on the road to Tibet. The very last entry ran: “‘My Interesting New Novel’ with Barry Witter (cancelled due to lack of interest)”. The Secret Author remembered this entertaining burlesque as he sat down to contemplate The Times’s announcement of this autumn’s roster. “Dench among treasures at Cheltenham book festival” declared the headline, above the revelation that “Richard Osman’s murders, Dame Judi Dench’s Shakespeare and Sir Geoff Hurst’s goals are among the highlights”. We were further informed that “in a show of support for Britain’s literary cultures,…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2024

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