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Bestselling authors to appear at new Warwick Book Festival

Warwick book festivalBestselling authors will gather at the University of Warwick this summer for the first Warwick Book Festival.

The Festival will take place at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday 15 June with the theme ‘Worlds of History’. The event, which is open to all, will celebrate some of the finest contemporary writing on a diverse range of historical periods, themes and ideas.

The new Festival is being launched by the University of Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study in partnership with Queen Mary University London.

Authors confirmed to appear so far include Ben Macintyre, Associate Editor of The Times and author of Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, described by critics as an “utterly gripping story” about the five key D-Day double agents.

Bestselling biographer Paula Byrne (author of Perdita, and Mad World) will be discussing her highly acclaimed new work The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, which has been published to coincide with this week’s Pride and Prejudice bicentenary, and is already being feted as “a fitting tribute to one of our great writers”.

The University of Warwick’s Michael Scott, who has appeared on a number of BBC programmes including Guilty Pleasures: Luxury in the Ancient Greek and Medieval Worlds (BBC 4, 2011), will also be talking about his latest series and new book on the celebrated pilgrimage site of Delphi.

In addition, Warwick writing initiatives will have a strong presence at the Festival. Michael Hulse and Donald Singer will be joined by winners of the Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine, and a celebration of The Warwick Review’s Silver Jubilee issue will feature award-winning novelist Kirsty Gunn and highly acclaimed poet Lesley Saunders.

The Warwick Prize for Writing panel will include a special announcement from the judges about this year’s award.

The University of Warwick’s Vice Chancellor and President Professor Nigel Thrift said: “This is an exciting new event. The day will feature leading historical fiction authors, journalists and non-fiction writers whose books capture the latest ideas about history - it will be a marvellous opportunity for audiences to explore the future of the past.”

Tickets for the Warwick Book Festival will go on sale soon, for more information visit http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/ias/bookfestival and follow on Twitter @UoWBookFestival

Notes to editors

For more information please contact Kelly Parkes-Harrison, Press and Communications Manager, University of Warwick, k.e.parkes@warwick.ac.uk, 02476 150868, 07824 540863.