The Beautiful And Damned Lives Of Keats And F. Scott Fitzgerald

‘For awhile after you quit Keats,

all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming.’

F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Join us at the Cheltenham Literature Festival for an afternoon of poetry and jazz as we mark the bicentenary of the death of John Keats. 

In Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph, Lucasta Miller resurrects the real Keats: an outsider whose extraordinary energy and love of language allowed him to take his place at the heart of English literature. 

Jonathan Bate’s luminous, compelling biography Bright Star, Green Light recreates the short, dazzling lives of Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald in parallel and traces the profound influence of the Romantic poet on the American novelist. 

Drawing a thread between their two ages – with poetry readings set against a soundtrack from the Jazz Age – they talk to Sarah Churchwell about the stunning originality of Keats’ poetry, and why it continues to speak to us down the generations.

The event is proudly sponsored by the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, and it will take place on Friday 15th October 2021 as part of the many exciting events of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, at Queen's Hotel, Regency Suite. 

Instructions on how to buy tickets (£16) are available on the Cheltenham Festivals website.