This month's festival pick...

Cheltenham Festival of Literature
Old Georgian Era Spa Now Hosts a World-Renowned Lit Event

By Patrick Totty

Cheltenham, England

Avid newspaper readers who grew up in the 1920s will remember Cheltenham, a distinctive typeface with swooping, rounded serifs that newspapers worldwide used for years as a headline type. Although it was later supplanted by such typefaces as Helvetica and Times Roman, Cheltenham enjoyed a bit of resurgence in the late 1980s and early 1990s when print advertisers reintroduced it to the U.S. public.

The typeface was named after the place where it was designed, Cheltenham, England, a borough of Gloucestershire County near the Cotswold Hills. Although the town of Cheltenham (population 90,000) can race its history back to the ninth century, the location did not achieve any great distinction until 1716, when three mineral springs were discovered in the area. The area soon became a spa that drew visitors from all over the UK. Many great lawns, tree-lined streets and graceful buildings of the Georgian Era remain to remind visitors of Cheltenham’s days as a resort.

These days, Cheltenham hosts its annual Festival of Literature, a 51-year-old event that bills itself as the world’s longest-running book festival. It certainly is one of the most comprehensive, involving the participation of novelists, poets, dramatists, academics, biographers and even cartoonists. The festival began in 1949 when local writer John Moore gathered some of his peers to honor the written word.

The 1999 festival incorporates many different themed sessions, including a  Perspectives series about the festival's own history and a daily poetry series called Tempo. Another series, Time and Motion, explores the four corners of the earth in travel writing, and Book It! is a special series for children. An all-star cast of poets, musicians and street entertainers also performs in venues all over town to complement the festivities.

For the 2000 Festival, the theme is space and literature. Authors from across the globe, such as Bill Bryson, Thomas Keneally, Edward Said and Jostein Gaarder, will gather to discuss and celebrate the sense of place and the effect partiular places -- cities, deserts, mountains, oceans, the countryside -- have had on literature, both factual and fictional. 

The theme of a sense of place will weave together more than 200 events. As usual, the festival will feature Book It!, aimed at young readers, which will feature authors Martin Jarvis, Joan Aiken and Michelle Magorian.  CyberFest, a virtual on-line festival, will offer free workshops, performances and webcasts. Voices Off takes poets, performers, singers and storytellers to exciting new venues all over Cheltenham.