A literature festival bringing thousands of book lovers and famous faces to Wiltshire each year has just announced its first celebrity guests for 2024.
Marlborough LitFest will be celebrating its 15th year in 2024, and the festival seems to just keep getting bigger and better.
The festival will run from September 26-29, with fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's authors and free family activities all weekend.
Last year's glittering lineup of authors brought in crowds including former England footballer Tony Adams and Radio 4 comedian Andy Hamilton to the small Wiltshire town.
But this year, joining award-winning Shakespearean actor and festival patron Sir Simon Russell Beale, will be royal historian and biographer Robert Hardman, award-winning actress Celia Imrie, and acclaimed journalist Zeinab Badawi.
Robert Hardman's latest book 'Charles III' gives insider details behind the challenges of Charles III in making his mark in the 21st century, both in Britain and on the world stage.
Hardman draws on unrivalled access to the Royal Family, friends of the King and Queen and key officials and courtiers, as well as unpublished royal papers.
For avid historians or those who just have a fascination with royal life, Hardman's appearance in Marlborough on September 28 is not one to be missed.
Ceilia Imrie is not just an award-winning TV, film and theatre actor, but she is also a Sunday Times bestselling author.
Her author talk at LitFest on September 29 will focus on her latest novel 'Meet Me At Rainbow Corner', which is a moving story about war brides and domestic spies.
Imrie's novel is inspired by real events and a group of women who worked for GI soldiers during the Second World War.
Finally, award-winning broadcaster Zeinab Badawi will also take to LitFest's stage on September 29 to discuss her new book titled 'An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence'.
The book is a gripping new account of Africa told through the voices of Africans themselves and looks at more than 30 African countries through interviews with historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and more.
Badawi gives Africa its rightful place in our global story and is thrilled to be bringing that story to Marlborough.
Hardman, Imrie and Badawi are only the first three from a huge lineup of celebrities still to be announced, who are hoping to bring joy, excitement, discussion and great literature to Wiltshire this autumn.
The full programme will be available in late June with priority booking for Friends of LitFest from 1 July and general ticket sales from 11 July.
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