Wimbledon BookFest, London’s leading community-based literary festival will hold The Last Days of Summer LIVE Weekend Festival on 12-14 September in a bespoke, open marquee on Wimbledon Common.
Former Olympic Table Tennis player and author of Black Box Thinking and Rebel Ideas, Matthew Syed will deliver the Festival’s keynote speech, as well as an event for children.
Other speakers include journalist and podcaster, Pandora Sykes; broadcaster Jeremy Vine; bestselling author David Nicholls discussing his latest novel, Sweet Sorrow in partnership with the London Library and comedian Andy Hamilton with his remarkable new book ‘Longhand.’
BookFest is delighted to present some important new voices including NHS palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke and Black Lives Matter activist Patrick Hutchinson.
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason will talk about her musical family to celebrate the launch of her book House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons, while her son Braimah will give a violin performance.
Mervyn King shares valuable insights from his latest book Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an unknowable future.
Test your general knowledge in Encyclopedia Britannica’s fun family quiz for all ages!
Further events will be announced soon.
Events will have reduced capacities and ticketed entry to ensure that the festival is a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. Many of the events will be digitally streamed.
This alternative model for 2020 has been developed with the help of partners including Wimbledon & Putney Commons, University of Roehampton, Merton Council, Wimbledon Foundation, Baillie Gifford, Arts Council Grant England Emergency Funding and support from community benefactors.
BookFest’s Word Up education programme will run as usual in October and will feature 10 events with authors filmed live and then digitally relayed to participating schools. In celebration of the work of black writers and Black History Month, BookFest will donate a selection of books by black authors to the library of every Merton state schools (5 for primary and 10 for secondary schools.)
Fiona Razvi, Festival Director says: ‘We are so excited to be able to host live ‘in person’ events with such a range of interesting writers and speakers. We’ve worked hard to pull it together since guidance opened up on live events, but we feel the programme offers something very special for our audiences to enjoy. Social distancing will be in place and we’ve arranged an ‘open air’ roof only marquee set up to ensure audiences, staff and performers all feel safe.’
For further information please visit www.wimbledonbookfest.org.