Coming to a screen near you! Joanna Trollope, Kate Humble and Graham Norton are among the stars at this autumn’s online literary festival
- The Henley Literary Festival will be online throughout September and October
- This year’s line-up includes Joanna Trollope, John Grisham and Graham Norton
- Events for younger readers include presenters Leah Gooding and Ricky Boleto
One of the UK’s most successful book festivals is moving online this autumn — bringing more than 60 top speakers from their homes to yours.
Henley Literary Festival, which is supported by the Daily Mail, typically brings tens of thousands of visitors to the picturesque Oxfordshire town of Henley-on-Thames. However, with the ongoing restrictions on large-scale indoor events, it will instead be bringing authors including Joanna Trollope, John Grisham, Graham Norton, Jodi Picoult and Giovanna Fletcher to screens around the country and further afield over the next two months.
Early September speakers include Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain, Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante in conversation with former rower and chair of UK Sport Dame Katherine Grainger, nature presenter Kate Humble, and former British Ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch, interviewed by the BBC’s Jon Sopel.
The Henley Literary Festival is set to take place online throughout September and October with a line-up of stars including nature presenter Kate Humble (pictured)
Then the festival will be offering a full programme of Q&As and talks for adults and children from September 26 to October 4. International bestsellers David Mitchell and John Boyne — respectively best known for Cloud Atlas and The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas — will appear together, as will Joanna Trollope and The Other Half Of Happiness author Ayisha Malik.
Music is on the menu, with Oscar-winning lyricist Don Black as well as humourist Craig Brown and former Home Secretary Alan Johnson talking all things Beatles, while Brown’s fellow Daily Mail writer Simon Walters will discuss the present Prime Minister with Peter Oborne.
The writers behind several of 2020’s most talked-about and popular books will be appearing, including Christina Lamb author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women, I Am Not Your Baby Mother author Candice Brathwaite, Rainbow Milk novelist Paul Mendez, Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’s Florence Given, and Raynor Winn, with The Wild Silence, her much-anticipated follow-up to The Salt Path.
The annual festival will also feature Jeremy Vine, World Economic Forum global shaper Gemma Milne and fashion expert Erica Davies
Events for younger readers include Michael Morpurgo on War Horse, David Baddiel, Draw With Rob illustrator Rob Biddulph, and Judith Kerr storytellings with Louise Roe, Russell Brand and wife Laura Gallacher, plus CBBC presenters Leah Gooding and Ricky Boleto.
Millions of years of history will be covered by Peter Snow, Kavita Puri, Greg Jenner and Andrew Marr, while former England rugby star James Haskell and Formula One icons Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert will talk about their sports.
Also in the online line-up are Jeremy Vine, National Poetry Day ambassador Nikita Gill, World Economic Forum global shaper Gemma Milne, Countdown star Susie Dent, fashion expert Erica Davies and novelists Gill Hornby, Libby Page, Fern Britton, Beth Morrey and Justin Myers.
The full line-up and booking details can be found at henleyliteraryfestival. co.uk or by calling 01491 575948.