Feast of entertainment, ideas and discussion in Buckingham as literary festival returns

Buckingham's annual literary festival, BuckLitFest, returns from June 16 to 18, when writers and readers will make their way to the University of Buckingham's riverside campus for this year's talks, debates and performances.

Now in its sixth year, BuckLitFest offers a feast of entertainment, ideas and thought-provoking discussion. Book-lovers can meet bestselling historians, political commentators, nature writers, performance poets and storytellers and have their books signed in person, while new and aspiring writers can enjoy expert workshop advice.

Highlights include Britain's bestelling female historian , Alison Weir, who returns with her magnificent new Tudor novel, Henry VIII.

Ed Stourton, one of the UK's best-known broadcasters, reflects on how much the world and people's attitudes have changed over his 40 years as a journalist

John Lewis-Stempel, 'Britain's finest living nature writer' (The Times), shares his new, simpler life in the Charente as a self-sufficient peasant farmer in La Vie.

Barrister Sam Fowles, part of the team that took Boris Johnson to court after illegally proroguing Parliament, questions whether we can no longer hold our leaders to account – and whether the truth matters at all?

World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker performs his hilarious new show, and art expert Will Gompertz shows us how to experience and look at the world with an artist's eye.

Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Herford College, Oxford, shares her love of books both as objects in our lives as well as distinctive worlds in our heads.

Award-winning biographer Flora Fraser captures the daring, wit and struggle for survival of 24-year old Flora Macdonald in the aftermath of the failed Jacobite rebellion.

Iain Dale, broadcaster, columnist and political commentator, dissects the current political landscape

Historian and former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption discusses his much-debated intervention re civil liberty during the Covid pandemic and his keenly awaited final volume on the Hundred Years' War.

Enjoy live music and Ghanaian food as local playwright, musician, poet and chef Yaw Asiyama takes to the stage to share his teenage life during the 1970s revolution in Ghana with his funny and warm play, Me, Marley and I.

Editorial consultant Flora Rees guides emerging writers through the important process of editing your manuscript and creating a powerful pitch letter to literary agents.

Christina Lamb, Sunday Times Chief Foreign Correspondent and six-times Foreign Correspondent of the Year winner, will be in conversation about her remarkable career and reporting trauma from Afghanistan to Ukraine, while Kenan Malik explores the real origins of 'race' in Western thought.For children, The Greatest Show on Earth author and illustrator Mini Grey takes you on a whistlestop tour through life on earth - all 4.6 billion years of it - as narrated by a friendly troupe of insects.

Cath Howe, creator of Call the Puffins! – her brilliant new series featuring a team of puffins in training to carry out rescues on the Island of Egg - shares what it's really like being an author.

Ticket prices for most events have been held at £10 adult, £5 children, plus there's a programme of free children's events on Saturday afternoon.

Tickets for all BuckLitFest events are on sale via the website, or from the University Bookshop and the Old Gaol.