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Henley Literary Festival has announced a raft of speakers for this year’s event, with the likes of former prime minister Theresa May, historian David Olusoga and comedian and author Shaparak Khorsandi confirmed.
The festival, supported by headline sponsor Baillie Gifford, will offer over 100 events for adults and children, in-person and online from Saturday 30th September to Sunday 8th October.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May will open the festival, after her previous appearance in 2019 was its fastest-selling event ever. This time May will be discussing her first book The Abuse of Power (Headline). Retired United States Army General David Petraeus, who served under President Obama as CIA Director and commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, will join award-winning historian Andrew Roberts to look at how warfare has changed over the last 80 years.
Henley-based writer Michael Smith will examine how UK and US politicians and secret services work together, in The Real Special Relationship (S&S UK), alongside Sir John Scarlett, former MI6 Chief, while longstanding Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee examines the true state of class in Britain, via "the prism of her own family".
Dame Jacqueline Wilson will make her first Henley appearance, while a special Black History for Every Day of the Year (Macmillan Children’s Books) talk by historian and broadcaster Olusoga, alongside his sister Dr Yinka Olusoga, is also scheduled.
Comedians Khorsandi and Viv Groskop come together for a unique event with their upcoming books on ADHD, confidence and making sense of life, while on the fiction front speakers will include Sunday Times bestseller Beth O’Leary, author of The Flatshare and The Wake Up Call (Quercus), and broadcaster and barrister Rob Rinder with his debut thriller The Trial (Century).
Festival director Harriet Reed Ryan said: “After our most popular festival yet in 2022 we are glad to be back this autumn and these first 13 speakers, with over 100 more to be revealed in the coming months, give a real taste of the quality of events we always strive for.”
Venues include the Baillie Gifford Marquee at Phyllis Court, the Laithwaites Stage at the Kenton Theatre and the Gower Cottage Brownies Stage at Henley Town Hall, with the majority of events also to be livestreamed online.