Shukla, Barnes and Clarke to headline Wimbledon BookFest's Sunrise

Authors Nikesh Shukla, Julian Barnes and Susanna Clarke are among a star-studded line-up of writers announced for this year’s Wimbledon BookFest Sunrise Festival, which runs from 9th to 15th June. 

As part of the programme, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah will talk to BBC journalist Kavita Puri, while Clarke will discuss her Women’s Prize-winning Piranesi (Bloomsbury).

Arifa Akbar, Mona Arshi and Shukla will share a stage, while Barnes, author of 13 novels including Booker Prize-winning The Sense of an Ending (Vintage), will discuss his latest novel Elizabeth Finch (Jonathan Cape). 

In its 15th anniversary year, the organisers say the marquee village on Wimbledon Common will have “an exciting new format” and that the site will include a bookshops tent for author signings. There will also be talks on the environment, memoir and life writing, art and comedy. 

June will also see the return of Wimbledon BookFest’s programme of events for schools. Five thousand students from south London and Surrey are expected to visit over five days for events with children’s writers including Lenny Henry, Lemn Sissay, Elle McNicoll, Jean Menzies and Simon Farnaby.  

Director of the festival Fiona Razvi said: “Wimbledon BookFest is delighted to be marking its 15th anniversary as London’s leading literary festival. We aim to create the space to reflect and discuss the big issues of the day, as well giving time out to enjoy and learn new things, and this is reflected in our programme for Sunrise.

“We’re also pleased to see the return of our full schools’ programme in June, for which we expect 5,000 students over five days. One hundred schools in London and Surrey now take part in our creative projects every year, an activity very much at the heart of the festival.”