Marlborough LitFest has issued an update on its roster.
Royal historian and biographer Robert Hardman, award-winning actress Celia Imrie and acclaimed journalist Zeinab Badawi will join LitFest Patron Sir Simon Russell Beale at this year’s 15th festival from 26–29 September.
LitFest is inviting sign-up to Friends of LitFest for 2024 to take advantage of priority booking for this year’s [Anchor] festival.
For £30, Friends of LitFest will receive a festival brochure in the post and are invited to festival celebrations and events throughout the year. LitFest is also encouraging supporters to step up a level to become a Golden, Silver or Bronze Friend attracting further benefits including free tickets.
As a charitable arts organisation run by volunteers, LitFest is reliant upon financial support from Friends as well as sponsors, ensuring the festival is able to put together a varied programme as well as providing community outreach for schools and families.
Festival Chair Genevieve Clarke said: “We’ve been very encouraged to have loyal audience members signing up as Friends of LitFest.
"It strengthens the festival community and of course allows us to engage new people of all ages in LitFest. It’s also a great way of making sure that you don’t miss out on sell-out events.”
Last year LitFest reached more than 1200 children and young people through free author events for schools, storytelling and craft activities around the town, together with the first year of its Once Upon a Trail along the High Street.
Celia Imrie, best known as an award-winning actor, is also a Sunday Times bestselling author.
She will be appearing at LitFest on Sunday 29 September to talk about her latest novel, Meet Me AtRainbow Corner, a moving story encompassing war brides and domestic spies, inspired by real events involving a group of women working for GIs during the Second World War.
Award-winning broadcaster and journalist Zeinab Badawi will talk about her first book An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, which brings a gripping new account of Africa, as told through the voices of Africans themselves.
Visiting more than 30 African countries to interview countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers, Zeinab Badawi unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story. She will be appearing at LitFest on Sunday 29 September.
Acclaimed royal historian and biographer Robert Hardman’s latest book, Charles III, is a portrait of a modern monarch, full of insider details behind the challenges as Charles III sets out to make his mark in the 21st century, both in Britain and on the world stage.
Mr Hardman draws on unrivalled access to the Royal Family, friends of the King and Queen, key officials and courtiers, plus unpublished royal papers, to chart the transition from the emotionally charged days following the death of the late Queen all through that make-or-break first year on the throne. He will be appearing at LitFest on Saturday 28 September.
The full programme will be available in late June, with priority booking from 1 July, and general ticket sales from 11 July.
More information and regular 2024 festival programme updates can be found at www.marlboroughlitfest.org
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