Stratford Literary Festival will feature stars from stage and screen when it returns in May including Dames Judi Dench and Harriet Walter
A TRIO of much-loved actor dames are among the headliners of this year’s Stratford Literary.
Dames Judi Dench, Harriet Walter and Penelope Wilton take time away from stage and screen to make an appearance at the 16th literary festival. It’s on at the Crowne Plaza, Stratford, from 2nd to 7th May.
Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong and Dame Harriet will lead a celebration of the genius of PG Wodehouse, and actor Anton Lesser will read from the Booker-winning novel Wolf Hall accompanied by the TV series music composer Debbie Wiseman in a tribute to the late Hilary Mantel.
The festival kicks off early with a special event with its new patron Maggie O’Farrell on 13th April at Holy Trinity Church. She’ll be talking about the staging of Hamnet which opens at the Swan Theatre in April in a live and live streamed event.
The main festival then plunges into a packed programme that covers a range of issues, including the environment, in events with the award-winning journalist George Monbiot and bushcraft expert Ray Mears. Political shenanigans are brought into focus by the sharp pen of Guardian columnist Marina Hyde, and PM watcher Sir Anthony Seldon reassesses Boris Johnson’s tenure at No.10. DJ and best-selling author Stuart Maconie retraces Priestley’s steps to discover what it means to be English in 2023.
Classicist, comedian and radio broadcaster Natalie Haynes defends the much maligned Medusa, and best-selling authors Jennifer Saint and Janina Ramirez reassess the lives of forgotten women who have impacted the world throughout history.
TV’s Repair Shop’s leather expert Suzie Fletcher shares her moving life story and extreme runner Nick Butter describes the challenges of running the entire coastline of Britain. Times columnist and beauty writer India Knight brings us her debut novel, and Pub Landlord-turned-writer, comedian Al Murray, reveals his history of World War Two. Veteran broadcaster Edward Stourton shares a career at the forefront of BBC news, and Stratford will welcome back poet Pam Ayres who had to cancel her event in November.
The programme also features some of the country’s leading thinkers and academics, including Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Alice Sherwood, Peter Frankopan, Jonathan Kennedy, Kimberley Wilson, Naoise Mac Sweeney and Richard Fisher, who tackle topics as varied as UK debt, the impact of Western culture, long-view thinking, AI and the impact of diet on our mental health.
To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio this year, there will be events with leading experts Emma Smith and Chris Laoutaris, and the outgoing RSC artistic director Greg Doran shares the highlights of a career that has had him titled ‘one of the great Shakespearians of his generation’.
In a first for the festival, there will be a ‘fringe festival’ programme taking place in a marquee in front of the Crowne Plaza. Some of the comics performing include Mark Maier, Shazia Mirza and Otis Cannelloni and Mike Gunn. Also appearing is political spoken word performer Luke Wright, and Marcel Lucont, Britain’s favourite French ‘flaneur, raconteur and bon viveur’. Plus there will be a production of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.
There are also writers’ workshops, children’s events, and a live screening of the coronation.
Festival director Annie Ashworth said: “This year’s festival has one of our most exciting line-ups. We’ve managed to pack in a mass of events and there will be something to please
“In what has been a tough couple of years' for everyone, and we are enormously grateful to our sponsors and supporters that they have continued to value the festival as a leading UK book festival and a beacon in the local cultural calendar.”
Tickets start at £12 and £6 for children’s events, and go on general sale on 17th February from www.stratlitfest.co.uk.
