WORLD Book Day may have passed but for literary inspiration look no further than this year’s Curious Arts Festival.

The line up of author events at Curious, running July 20-23 at Pylewell Park, reads as an A to Z of prize winners, best sellers and this year’s most exciting book releases.

Celebrated adult and children’s author Matt Haig and journalist, historian and McMafia creator Misha Glenny are the latest names announced on an inspired literary line up.

Celebrating its fifth birthday this summer, Curious is one of the UK’s top boutique festivals renowned for attracting the cream of UK and international literary talent which this year includes:Kate Mosse, international bestselling author with debut novel Labyrinth and more recently The Taxidermist’s Daughter, Kate is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction; Adam Kay – award winning performer and comedy writer whose first book This is Going to Hurt, based on his experiences as a doctor in the NHS, opened at #3 in the Sunday Times Bestseller List; Lemn Sissay MBE – People’s Poet and author of several books of poetry including last year’s Gold From The Stone, Lemn is currently working on a memoir about his extraordinary life; Miriam Darlington - prize-winning poet whose collection Windfall was followed by an ecological tale for young children, Footprints In the Sand and then by Otter Country for adults. Her latest book Owl Sense is just published this February; Thomas Harding – best selling author and journalist whose most recent book, Blood on the Page, published in January, is an explosive new work of non-fiction investigating a murder case; Jamie Reid – author of non fiction books including Doped his true story about the 1960s racehorse doping gangs as well as acclaimed novels. His latest book, Monsieur X, published in March 2018, tells the story of French aristocrat Patrice des Moutis who, between the late 1950s and the early 1970s, made a daring attempt to beat the French state-run betting system - a dazzling tale of glamour, riches, violence and ultimately tragedy; Rob Lloyd Jones - author of the award-winning Wild Boy series of Victorian detective novels, and the Jake Atlas adventure series; Dolly Alderton – journalist and writer whose critically acclaimed book Everything I Know About Love was just released this February

Matt Haig is the author of bestseller How to Stop Time, acclaimed memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, novel The Humans and for children among others A Boy Called Christmas. Matt will be hosting events and Q and As for children and adults alike across the weekend.

Heavyweight journalist, writer and historian Misha Glenny is an expert on global organised crime, cybersecurity and southeastern Europe and is regularly consulted by the British Foreign Office, the US State Department and the British Army. His most recent book Nemesis follows others including McMafia which was recently made into an 8-part television series for BBC1 starring James Norton and an international cast.

As well as offering author events, Curious offers a glittering array of the cultural, creative and curious including a stellar comedy line up, music from some of the UK’s most exciting singer songwriter talent – John Newman headlines this year - and a uniquely engaging children’s programme.

You might find yourself learning how to write a Petrarchan sonnet, losing your life-savings at Black-Jack, creating a vintage doll's house from scratch or joining a LOVE workshop among many other experiences from midnight bat walks to life drawing and cocktail masterclasses to snail racing. Pop up fine dining and even a cricket match make this a dreamy, fun, eccentric and ultimately inimitable weekend

More info at: www.curiousartsfestival.com