Star Line Up for Lavenham Literary Festival Announced

The eighth Lavenham Literary Festival will take place from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 November 2024.Guest speaker at the Literary Dinner at the Swan Hotel is Private Eye satirist and author Craig Brown.

Alan Johnson, former politician and best-selling author is in conversation with Suffolk’s own Lesley Dolphin, and Patrick Barkham who introduces us to the biography of his friend and naturalist The Wild Life of Roger Deakin.

The much-loved actor Sheila Hancock will talk about her memoir Old Rage. Foodies and Radio 4 fans will enjoy Dr Annie Gray’s history of the British High Street, while Tracy Borman will take us Behind Closed Doors at the Royal Palaces.

A festival first – a session for football fans! Ashley Hickson-Lovence’s award-winning Your Show is about the Premier League’s first black referee. Two more firsts – introducing Jyoti Patel’s debut novel The Things That We Lost and Hilary Taylor’s Sea Defences.

Louis de Bernieres, author of the hugely popular Captain Corelli’s Mandolin will talk to broadcaster Martha Kearney about his latest novel Light over Liskeard. And two eminent Shakespeare experts, the theatre director Bill Alexander and the distinguished actor Dame Janet Suzman, will be discussing Bill’s book Exploring Shakespeare – a Director’s Notes from the Rehearsal Room.

Tickets for all these events will be on sale from 30th August from The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. Further information from Lavenham Literary Festival website.