"TOO many uncertainties" in the current climate means the Isle of Wight Literary Festival will be a digital one again this year.

Maggie Ankers, festival chair, has announced that the 2021 festival will be a digital gathering — accessible to Islanders, mainlanders and literary lovers around the world.

“There are too many uncertainties, and the trustees have regretfully decided we won’t be able to deliver the Literary Festival to the standard our speakers and festival goers expect,” she said.

“But we aren’t going to let the dates go by. We will be streaming a digital festival on Friday, October 8, to Sunday, October 10.”

The digital programme will include a range of topics regular festivalgoers enjoy — from politics to prisons, history and the natural world, and captivating fiction.

Speakers will be announced in the next two weeks, organisers said, but some confirmed names on the festival website include Alexander McCall Smith, Andrew Lownie and Michael Cockerell.

Last year the Literary Festival went digital for the first time, thanks to Steve Ancsell, who is responsible for Festival Radio. Steve has more than 30 years' experience in broadcasting and will produce this year’s festival.

Speakers from last year’s free digital festival included Jeremy Irons reading Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark; Anna Pasternak talking about the controversial Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor; Hunter Davies sharing his memories of the Beatles; and festival vice patron, Alan Titchmarsh, who opened the digital festival and read from his book of poetry.

The 2020 digital festival is still available to view on YouTube, or by clicking here