A popular literary festival which was due to take place this summer has been postponed.

Sea Fever 4 will not take place as planned next month but it will go ahead in later in the year, in October.

Organisers have confirmed that the festival will be very similar to the original programme, with almost all of the speakers originally scheduled to appear making themselves available in the autumn.

A spokesperson for the festival said: “The public health issues posed by Covid-19 now go without saying. The festival organisers, working closely with Wells Maltings , have therefore postponed the event planned for May.

“Instead it will go ahead on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24. We will also use the additional time to augment the line-up.

“The good news is that the speakers arranged to appear in May have been so supportive. Almost all have re-arranged their diaries so as to make themselves available in October.”

The festival’s theme, Time and Tide, will also remain unchanged, as well as the issues being highlighted including politics, climate change, censorship and artistic excellence.

They added: “These are all matters that will survive when the coronavirus has abated – or indeed died the death that it so richly deserves.

“Indeed, Sea Fever 4 will be even better than originally envisaged.”

Organisers will be working with Wells Maltings over the next three months to finalise the arrangements for the autumn.

A revised programme will appear at the end of August, and tickets will then be on sale from the Maltings Box Office.

Sea Fever, north Norfolk’s festival of poetry and prose, is the successor to the long-established Poetry-next-the-Sea.

Authors and poets including Julia Blackburn, Simon Armitage, Roger Law, and Sir Andrew Motion have taken part in previous years.

Poetry-next-the Sea was established in 1997 by Alan Byford, John Coleridge and Kevin Crossley-Holland.

· Tickets for the festival will be on sale through Wells Maltings on 01328 710885 or via the website www.wellsmaltings.org.uk. Full details of the programme and the speakers are on the website www.seafeverliteraryfestival.com.

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