Miliband, Lawson and Laverne to headline Stoke Newington Literary Festival

Ed Miliband, Nigella Lawson and Lauren Laverne are among the headliners for this year's Stoke Newington Literary Festival. 

Taking place from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th June, Mariam Khan, Coco Khan and Malia Bouattia will also be discussing their anthology It’s Not About the Burqa (Picador) at the festival, which is now in its 10th year. 

Former Labour leader Miliband will be talking about why the UK needs to be on a ‘war footing’ about climate change as Lawson talks to local food writer Debora Robertson. BBC 6Music’s Laverne will be in conversation with Guardian beauty and fashion writer Sali Hughes about the politics of fashion and the fashion of politics.

Hackney-born actress Zawe Ashton will be talking about her new book Character Breakdown (Chatto & Windus) as former home secretary and trade unionist Alan Johnson will in conversation with Suzanne Moore. A free debate about class, social mobility and accessibility featuring Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn (Chatto & Windus), and Common People (Unbound) contributor Anita Sethi will also take place.

Organisers say the event will be a "celebration of the area’s literary and radical history and its diverse community and a day out for all the family, with a brilliant kids’ festival alongside." The children's festival will feature John Hegley and free storytelling by Elmer the Elephant at Stoke Newington Library and on Stoke Newington Common. 

Set up in 2010 to raise money for literacy initiatives in the borough of Hackney, the festival has worked with schools, the library service, community arts organisations and refugee groups to promote storytelling and reading for the whole community. Ticket prices are kept as low as possible to keep the festival accessible, with nothing over £10 and most events in the £5-8 range, with a selection of free events throughout the weekend. The full programme is available here.