The Stay at Home Literary Festival is back. The brainchild of author and senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow CJ Cooke, the festival began last year as a single tweet. A few short weeks later the festival launched, bringing together 220 authors and industry professionals with support from lead partner, Paper Nations. With 145 events held over two weeks, Stay-at-Home! debuted as one of the largest literary festivals in the United Kingdom.

Whilst being a celebration of reading and writing, the festival also aims to combat loneliness by championing community and connection amid social distancing.

This year’s theme is inspired by  The Danger of a Single Story, Chimamanda Adichie’s treatise about the unintended consequences of unquestioned narratives. This year there are a more diverse panel of writers and industry professionals, offering their own unique perspectives from a wide range of experience and backgrounds.

The festival is free to attend though donations can be made when registering for events. All events, excepting those on Instagram Live are closed caption.

This year’s festival runs from Monday 26 April to Sunday 9 May and features over 80 events including workshops, author interviews and discussions.

Authors appearing include Neema Shah, Harriet Tyce, Felicia Yap, Erin Kinsley, Helen Lederer, Oliva Kiernan and Trevor Wood.

There will be poetry events, readings and workshops including how to translate your fantasy world onto the screen and flash fiction hints and tip.

I am chairing an event on Monday 26 April at 7pm with William Shaw, Nina Allan and Rebecca Wait where we will be finding out about their latest novels and look at how location plays a role in a story.

You can find out more about the programme and register for places here.