Literature & Music

Beyond Shakespeare, the area has boasted a wealth of writers throughout history who have used Coventry and Warwickshire as inspiration for the worlds they created on the page.

These include Nuneaton’s George Eliot and Jane Austen, whose stays at Stoneleigh Abbey inspired many of her works. In more recent years, Coventry has produced poet Philip Larkin, Jack Reacher creator Lee Child and award-winning fantasy author Graham Joyce (Dreamside, The Tooth Fairy).

Popular music

An abundance of literary and music events take place throughout the region – from poetry slams and open mic nights to the Stratford Literary Festival, Kenilworth Arts Festival and the Godiva Festival.

1960s electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire was a Coventry lass, though the city really took the spotlight in the early 1980s as the epicentre of the two-tone scene with The Specials and The Selecter. By the late eighties it was two other famous sons of the city – Pete Waterman and Matt Aitken – who dominated the charts as two thirds of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman ‘Hit Factory’, writing and producing for Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley and many others.

More recently, the city has basked in the indie cred of The Enemy, and Leamington’s (as yet) only number one artists Nizlopi are often credited as a major influence on Ed Sheeran, who was a guitar tech at many of their early shows.