Now in its 20th year, the Off the Shelf Festival of Writing and Reading is an annual event offering excellent quality, exciting, wide ranging and innovative programming and attracting some of the most prestigious names in literature to Sheffield. Off the Shelf is one of the UK's biggest and most significant festivals of writing and reading, combining a programme of high profile authors, poets, journalists and broadcasters with community and outreach provision, support for emerging writers, workshops, exhibitions, storytelling, talks, walks and a programme of events for children and young people.

The Off the Shelf Festival of Writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

 and Reading takes place in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 during October each year. It is organised by the Culture Section of Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors...

 with support from Arts Council England

Arts Council England

Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

and several commercial companies. The Festival offers a wide range of events for all ages and has seen audience growth each year. Previous Festivals have included events with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Stephen Fry, Dr David Starkey, Doris Lessing, Michael Morpurgo, Andrew Motion, Jamie Oliver, Ian Rankin, Will Self, Carol Ann Duffy, Nick Hornby, Michael Rosen, Michael Frayn, Lionel Shriver, Rose Tremain and Claire Tomalin, Simon Armitage, Lemn Sissay, David Lodge, John Pilger and Benjamin Zephaniah to name just a few.

The 2011 Festival will take place between 8 - 29 October and the programme will appear on the website from September 2011.

The Off the Shelf website has the latest Booking, News and Event information. Join the e-list from the website to receive regular news on the programming of the Festival.Off The Shelf Follow the Festival on Twitter (otsfestiva) and Facebook (Off the Shelf Festival).