Dawkins, McBride and Atwood star at Southbank Literature Festival

Richard Dawkins, Eimear McBride and Margaret Atwood are among the names featuring at Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival this October.

Now in its 10th year, the festival rediscovers "far-sighted" classics and examines "how we are already living in an era predicted by science fiction", celebrating the work of the world’s "most visionary" established and upcoming writers and artists. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Living in Future Times’.

Highlights of the festival will include Atwood launching and discussing her new novel Hag-Seed (Hogarth), a day featuring international writers of science-fiction including Hassan Blasim, Lauren Beukes, Xiaolu Guo and Cixin Liu, a celebration and exploration of David Bowie's life and legacy in an event with authors including biographer Paul Morley and a Young Adult Literature Weekender will feature authors including Sara Barnard, Malorie Blackman, Holly Bourne, Juno Dawson, Sally Green, Sungju Lee, Hollie McNish and Harriet Reuter Hapgood.

Ted Hodgkinson, senior programmer for Literature and Spoken Word, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to announce that the 2016 London Literature Festival will feature an incredible programme of world-renowned writers, futurologists and transhumanists ready to face the fast-approaching future, and celebrate the power of the imagination to take us beyond our expectations as a species. At a moment of great political change and social conflict, Living in Future Times will look at how writers have often had the best antennae when it comes to anticipating the challenges facing humanity, both in the present and the world yet to come.”

London Literature Festival runs from 5th – 16th October 2016 and incorporates the final weekend of Southbank Centre’s Power of Power Festival from 7th – 9th October.