Cambridge Edition November 2019

L I TERARY F EST I VAL

ringing writers and readers together to share stories, ideas and a love of words, the Cambridge Literary Festival returns for its

BOOKISH CAMBRIDGE

winter instalment from 29 November to 1 December. Established in 2003, the event takes place at venues around the city including West Road Concert Hall and the Old Divinity School. It offers a busy line-up of talks and discussions that, according to festival director, Cathy Moore, “help us make sense of the times we are living through, and distract us from them”. Spanning politics, religion, science, food and climate change, the programme boasts a roster of top writers and thinkers. The fiction line-up is as strong as ever, with some of the world’s biggest authors stopping by to discuss their latest novels. Ian McEwan – national treasure, Booker prize winner, and author of classics Atonement and The Innocent – is at the festival with his latest offering, Machines Like Me . Imagining an alt-history world where Britain lost the Falklands War and breakthroughs in AI have produced ‘manufactured humans’, the story shows McEwan at his subversive best. You can also catch Jung Chang, author of global literary sensation Wild Swans , discussing Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister , an exploration of the stories of three different and extraordinary women, plus Turkish writer and activist Elif Shafak is in conversation with Erica Wagner. Elif Shafak also hosts a discussion with Will Eaves, whose award-winning book, Murmur , takes inspiration from Alan Turing’s life in the aftermath of his conviction for homosexual acts. According to The Times , this dreamlike read “opens

AS CAMBRIDGE LITERARY FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR ITS WINTER INSTALMENT, WE FIND OUT WHAT’S IN STORE

WORDS BY NICOLA FOLEY

26

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9

C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K

Powered by