Where: Stroud (various venues)

When: Wednesday, November 6, to Sunday, November 10

Organisers of Stroud Book Festival 2019 are delighted to announce that the box office for all events is now open!

Families, fiction, forgiveness, Faber's 90th, food, future, fabrics, film and fun are all on the menu at the five-day literary feast.

There are over 50 events across the festival, which this year runs from November 6-10.

Commenting on this year's programme, Stroud Book Festival artistic director Caroline Sanderson said: "The state of our world is increasingly driving people to search for answers and analysis in books because books inspire trust. And books are also a miraculous form of escape when we need one."

As well as a more diverse range of authors than ever before, Stroud Book Festival is delighted to be partnering with a host of fellow Stroud festivals and organisations this year, including Transition Stroud, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Stroud Valleys Project, Stroud Film Festival, Stroud Festival, SIT Select, Archway School, Stroud High School and Stroud Library.

For the 2019 programme, a Sustainable Stroud Badge has been introduced which highlights sustainability and environment issues, and which support Stroud District's aim of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Look out also for the Children's event badge which highlights events in our wonderful line-up for children, young people and families, as well as the programme for our second Schools' Day, designed for primary schools in Gloucestershire.

A number of events have already sold out of their early ticket quota, including Lemn Sissay, Ian McEwan and Julia Donaldson. So do book fast, to avoid disappointment.

To sum up Stroud Book Festival this year, we can't do better than quote the inimitable Sue Limb, who has again introduced our Festival brochure: "When we grow up we sometimes feel we've lost the joy of plunging into an imaginary new world. We feel besieged by political angst, taxes, illness and bereavement. But that childhood feeling of escape is still available to us, through our imaginations: the moment we open a book'."

So come on in! Everyone is welcome. Visit https://stroudbookfestival.org.uk  for the full Stroud Book Festival line-up. For tickets, call the Subscription Rooms box office on 01453 796880 or visit https://thesubrooms.co.uk