2024 Speakers
What’s on at Heywood Literary Festival 2025?
Sarah Churchwell
Gone with the Wind – And the Lies America Tells.
We are delighted to be joined by one of the world’s leading writers on the United States, Sarah Churchwell, professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Sarah will be in conversation with Hannah MacInnes, frequent Times Radio presenter and freelance journalist. They will delve into Sarah’s book, Gone with the Wind – And the lies America Tells. The story is perceived as almost a touchstone for 19th century American life, but has it actually helped create ideas and norms about Race, Religion and Gender that are causing rifts in modern American society? And what’s next for America and, subsequently, the West?
Sarah was onstage in the Main Hall at 11am at Heywood Literary Festival 2024 with doors opening at 10am for this exclusive day ticket experience.
‘An extraordinarily and shockingly powerful read’ Peter Frankopan
Tim Marshall
The Future of Geography – How Power and Politics in Space will Change Our World.
If you’ve ever wondered if humans are going back to the Moon, who will benefit from explorations, will Musk and Bezos’ space race ambitions ever come to fruition, the answers are here.
Space is the new frontier, a wild and lawless place. It is already central to communication, military strategy and international relations on Earth. Now, it is the latest arena for human exploration, exploitation – and, possibly, conquest. With China, the USA and Russia leading the way, the next fifty years will change the face of global politics. With all the insight and wit that have made Tim Marshall the UK’s most popular writer on geopolitics, this gripping book shows that politics and geography are as important in the skies as on the ground, covering great-power rivalry; technology; commerce; combat in space; and what it all means for us down on Earth
‘A voyage of galactic discovery’ Robert Verkaik, The Mail on Sunday
Rosie Holt
Satirist and Venerable MP.
After much demand, Rosie finally sets out her manifesto and passionate celebration and defence of the last 14 years of Conservative government. Having flourished as an ‘MP’ during the reign of Boris and clung on through to Rishi Sunak’s government, via a short and turbulent detour through the brief fever dream of Liz Truss, Rosie – everyone’s favourite internet MP – will have you cheering and desperate to ensure the Tories rule for another 14 years. Her performance of Why We Were Right explains why the so called ‘scandals’ or ‘controversial’ decisions of the government that have been derided by the Left and the ‘woke’ media were completely right – and intentional – all along. Let’s make Britain great again. (Again.)
Dr Sue Stuart-Smith
The Well Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World.
How can gardening relieve stress and help us look after our mental health? What lies behind the restorative power of the natural world?
In a powerful combination of contemporary neuroscience, psychoanalysis and brilliant storytelling, The Well Gardened Mind investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years – working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing and confidence. “The wisest book I’ve read for many years. Much more than a gardening book. Much more than a guide to mental health” – Stephen Fry.
Host
Hannah MacInnes,
Broadcaster and Podcaster
Hannah hosts a number of literary events around the world and has interviewed figures including Melinda Gates, Bill Clinton and Mary Beard. She was incredible at Heywood Literary Festival interviewing Sarah Churchwell and Rosie Holt MP.
Chris Blackhurst
The World’s Biggest Cash Cow: Manchester United, The Glazers and the Struggle for Football’s Soul.
In this gripping book on power, money and ego, former editor of the Independent, Chris Blackhurst, unpicks the secretive deals, fall outs and high stakes gambling that make up the modern history of one of the world’s most recognised brands. ”Packed with insights and details that will both amaze and apall you…if it “Jaw dropping revelations…The incredible story (Of Man United) laid bare…” Daily Mail.
Clare Asquith
William Shakespeare and the Resistance: How the bard used your favourite plays to influence and comment on Tudor rule.
Mary Clare Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, authored of Shadowplay: the Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare, in which she posited that Shakespeare was a covert Catholic, whose works contain coded language used by the Catholic underground, particularly England’s Jesuits, but also appealed to the monarchy for toleration through his work. In this fascinating talk Clare talks of her time under totalitarian rule in Moscow and later Kiev, and how, with an Oxford degree in English, the similarities between Shakespeare and the oppressed artists of Soviet Russia started to become apparent, in their hidden commentaries of their supreme leaders at least.
“Any venture into Shakespearean investigation requires panache, deep affection for “the man” and a delicate balance between nerve and learning. Clare Asquith has rendered all of these elegantly and has also, uniquely, keeps pace with the great emotions in the works she scrutinizes.” Sir John Keegan, former Daily Telegraph Defence Editor and author of The Face of Battle.
Dan Jones
Henry V – The Astonishing Rise of England’s Greatest Warrior King.
Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months, and died at the age of just 35, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. For Dan Jones, Henry is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal, warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament.
DAN JONES is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of many non-fiction books, including The Plantagenets, The Templars, and Powers and Thrones. He is a renowned writer, broadcaster and journalist. He has presented dozens of TV shows, including the Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles, and writes and hosts the podcast This is History. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Follow him: X
“Dan Jones is a baddass History writer…to put it mildly,” Duff McKagan. DUFF McKAGAN, New York Times No1 bestselling author of It’s So Easy.
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