MONDAY 31 MAY

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, Story reading 11am and 2pm, Craft activities approximately 12 noon and 3pm, FREE

Story Reading with Puppets: The Magic of the Selkie

Wonderful children's author and illustrator Gillian McClure is coming to read and illustrate with puppets her exquisite picture book, Selkie, an enchanting retelling of an old legend. Each reading will be followed by a break for refreshments, and then a craft session. The book is for ages 4-6 but older children are very welcome.

TUESDAY 1 JUNE

Steyning Grammar School, 7.30pm, 2 hours, £8/£6 concs

A TWIST IN THE TALE

Come and enjoy one of the Festival’s most popular annual events – a chance to hear a panel of three best-selling authors discuss their craft. This year we are further exploring the crime genre with a very welcome return from the fantastic Peter James and first time visits from award- winning authors Sophie Hannah and RJ Ellory.

Sophie Hannah is a literary polymath whose tightly plotted and terrifying psychological thrillers (The Point of Rescue, A Room Swept White) have been published to great critical acclaim and widely translated. It was Roger Ellory's fifth novel, A Quiet Belief in Angels that put him in the international bestseller lists, and his latest title, The Anniversary Man continues his run of rave reviews. We are also delighted that Peter James is returning to Steyning Festival. His Roy Grace detective novels (including Not Dead Enough and Dead Tomorrow) have been shortlisted for many awards, as well as topping the bestseller lists.

WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 10.30am, 1½ hours, £2

Be A Buttoneer

An unusual children's craft and story workshop for all ages. Come and make oodles of button doodles and create your own button world with Janina Karpinska, children's poet and artist, whose doodle workshops have been a successful part of a Komedia children's programme. Suitable for age 4+. Places are limited so please book tickets early.

WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE

Wiston House, 11.15 for 11.30am-3pm, Contact Box Office for further ticket information

STEYNING FESTIVAL SHORT STORY AWARDS LUNCH

A chance to attend the Festival adult and junior short story awards ceremony and hear the prize-winning short stories judged by creative writing tutor Greg Mosse and children's author Ali Sparkes, followed by a two course lunch and coffee in the sumptuous surroundings of Wiston House. Generously Sponsored by Wilton Park at Wiston House.

FRI DAY 4 JUNE

Springwells Hotel, 7.30pm, 2½ hours, £5

Three More Sussex Authors from the Snake River Press

Following the success of last year's visit, Steyning Festival is delighted to welcome back the Snake River Press, a small, Lewes-based publisher dedicated to producing beautiful, collectable guides to the culture of Sussex. This year's visiting speakers will be Dr Peter Brandon (The Shaping of the Sussex Landscape), Viv Croot (Salacious Sussex), and David Mortimer (Sussex Wildlife).

SATURDAY 5 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 11am, 1 hour, £2 (redeemable against book purchase)

Magical Mix-ups with Nick Sharratt

Nick Sharratt is one of the country's favourite children's illustrators. His bold, distinctive work has graced books by many major children's authors, including Jacqueline Wilson and Julia Donaldson, and his own stories are always enormous fun. We are delighted to welcome him back to Steyning for a lively and entertaining children's workshop. Suitable for ages 4-7 but older children interested in illustration are also welcome.

SATURDAY 5 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 2.30pm, 2 hours, £5/£4 concs

Tea and cakes with novelist Bethan Roberts

Come and meet Bethan Roberts for afternoon tea and a chat. Bethan is one of the freshest and most exciting young authors working at the moment. If you've read either The Pools – Bethan's haunting and fearless debut, or The Good Plain Cook, a compelling tale of a cook, her wealthy communist employer and her lover, based loosely on an episode in Peggy Guggenheim's life and set in Sussex – come and discuss the books with their author. If you haven't read them, come along anyway and be tempted.

SATURDAY 5 JUNE

St Andrew & St Cuthman Church, 6pm, 1 hour, FREE with retiring collection (ticket required)

Surrounded By Stories

Well loved ex Steyning Grammar School teacher turned local historian and poet George Cockman reveals the stories behind the windows in our beautiful parish church and reads verses he has written about them. There will be a musical interlude.

SUNDAY 6 JUNE

Steyning Centre, 7.30pm, 2 hours, £6/£5 concs (to include a glass of wine)

Writing Dickens' Life

Patrick Garland in Conversation with Michael Slater
Michael Slater's latest book, Charles Dickens, the first major autobiography of the great Victorian novelist has been hugely acclaimed. “No living person is a greater authority on the life and works of Charles Dickens than Michael Slater” according to Claire Tomalin, and his inimitable blend of infectious enthusiasm, rigourous scholarship and talent to amuse, make him a delight to watch.

Michael will be in conversation with Patrick Garland, the celebrated theatre and film director and former Artistic Director of Chichester Festival. Patrick has directed Simon Callow, both in The Mystery of Charles Dickens by Peter Ackroyd, and more recently, in his own adaptation of two Dickens tales at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Riverside Studio, Hammersmith. This event is expected to sell out, so please book your tickets early.

TUESDAY 8 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 4.30pm, 1 hour, FREE

MEET THE CHILDREN'S AUTHORS: GILLIAN CROSS AND PAUL DOWSWELL

A fantastic opportunity for children aged 10+ to come after school and meet acclaimed authors, Gillian Cross and Paul Dowswell.

Gillian Cross is the author of the perennially popular Demon Headmaster series, and has also written a Carnegie medal winner (Wolf), and The Great Elephant Chase, which won the Whitbread and the Smarties prizes, as well as many others. Her latest book, Where I Belong, mixes high fashion and Somali pirates in a thrilling tale of culture clashes and enduring friendships. Paul Dowswell has written many exciting historical fiction and non-fiction books, including Powder Monkey and Prison Ship.

His most recent novel is Auslander, a nail-bitingly tense and chilling story of a Polish orphan sent to live in Berlin during World War Two. Gillian and Paul, who are visiting two local schools to talk and sign books during the day, will be answering questions and signing copies of their latest books at the bookshop afterwards.

TUESDAY 8 JUNE

Norfolk Arms, 7.30pm start for open mic, 2½ hours, £6/£5 concs

Pam's Poetry and Pints Festival Special

with guest poet Attila the Stockbroker. Poet and songwriter Attila the Stockbroker, a favourite of the festival circuit, has performed about 2,800 gigs in more than 21 countries - at venues ranging from Glastonbury to a hotel basement in Stalinist Albania. He's published 5 books of poems and released over 20 CDs/LPs. He's loud, radical, lyrical, reflective, and will make you roar with laughter and well as seethe with anger, and 2010 sees his 30th anniversary tour. Please contact the Steyning Bookshop on 01903 812062 if you want to take part in the open mic.

WEDNESDAY 9 June

Steyning Centre, 7.45-9.30pm, £6/£5 concs

AN EVENING WITH BARBARA TRAPIDO

Steyning Bookshop is delighted to welcome one of our all-time favourite authors, Barbara Trapido, to the Festival. Barbara's first novel, Brother of the More Famous Jack, was published nearly thirty years ago to great excitement and terrific reviews, and promptly won the Whitbread prize. Since then, she has followed up her early success with a series of perfectly formed novels, which have been equally well-received, notably the semi-autobiographical Frankie and Stankie, which opened the locked box of Barbara's memories of growing up as a white child through the years of high apartheid in South Africa. Her latest novel, Sex and Stravinsky, is a wise and wonderful tale that crosses continents and generations to create a sparkling novel that moves with the grace and precision of a dance.

WEDNESDAY 9 June

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 4pm, FREE, refreshments provided

MEET THE AUTHOR JULIA DONALDSON

The wonderful Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson and her husband Malcolm will be visiting the Steyning Festival calling in at the Steyning Bookshop Marquee for half an hour of singing and storytelling followed by a book signing. All are welcome.

THURSDAY 10 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 4.15pm, 1 hour, FREE

MEET THE CHILDREN'S AUTHORS

SOPHIE MCKEN ZIE AND DINAH CAPPARUCCI
Another wonderful opportunity for children aged 9+ to meet, and be inspired by, award-winning authors. Sophie McKenzie is an extremely popular writer for teenagers. Her thriller, Girl, Missing won the Richard and Judy children's book prize, and her latest book is The Hostage, the second in a set of thrillers about teenagers with special abilities, is equally exciting. Sophie was one of the special World Book Day authors this year, and was also on the West Sussex Children's Book Award 2010 shortlist.

Dinah Capparucci's hilarious first book, Aliens Don't Eat Dog Food was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, and she is continuing in side-splitting style with her latest book, Disaster Bunnies Save the Day. Join Sophie and Dinah in the Bookshop Garden, where they will answer your questions and sign their latest books for children who did not have the chance to meet them in their school visits during the day.

SATURDAY 12 JUNE

Steyning Library, 2.30pm, 2 hours, £6/£5 concs (including refreshments)

An Afternoon with Prue Leith

In 1995, having published twelve cookbooks, Prue Leith gave up food writing to concentrate on fiction. A Serving of Scandal is her fifth very successful novel, which proves wrong all the publishers who told her that no-one wanted to read about women over fifty! We are delighted to welcome her to the Festival and hear about her fascinating life and the success of her fiction career.

“Sophie Kinsella for Grown-ups” Daily Express

“Prue Leith was not just born to cook…she was also born to write” Daily Mail

SUNDAY 13 JUNE

Steyning Bookshop Garden Marquee, 2.30pm, £2 including refreshments

Meet the Author: Lucy Jago

Lucy's first novel for young people, Montecute House, published by Bloomsbury books, has had rave reviews and is a riveting read. Cess works caring for the chickens at Montacute House and is determined to find her friend William who disappeared after a boy's body is found by the river. Accused of witchcraft by the villagers she is soon embroiled in a plot that threatens her world and forces her to draw on powers she never knew she possessed, powers that will place her life in danger if they are discovered by the villagers. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realised novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s. Lucy will be reading from her book and talking about the inspiration and ideas behind it.

SUNDAY 20 JUNE

Steyning Cricket Club Pavilion, 7pm (match starts at 2pm), 2½ hours, £5

Festival Cricket Match

followed by An Evening With Christopher Martin-Jenkins. Continuing what is now a Festival tradition, Steyning Cricket Club will be putting on a special cricket match, followed by a lively evening with visiting cricket personality Christopher Martin-Jenkins, who will be talking about his latest book, The 100 Best Cricketers of All Times. Come and see if you agree with his selections!