Lichfield Literature Festival 2024

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Thu 21 Mar 2024 - Sun 24 Mar 2024

The man who helped blow the lid on the ongoing Post Office accounting scandal is one of the guest speakers in the forthcoming Lichfield Literature Festival. Journalist Nick Wallis, who wrote a best-selling book about the shocking miscarriage of justice, will deliver The Post Office Scandal – The Inside Story at the Lichfield Garrick theatre on Sunday 24 March - the final day of the annual festival. Nick, whose book pre-dated the recent ITV drama into the scandal, will talk about how hundreds of innocent postmasters and sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for accounting shortfalls later found to have been the fault of the Post Office's Horizon software.

Lichfield Festival’s four-day Literature Festival, which runs from 21-24 March, is filled with a number of other best-selling authors who are coming together in the historic Staffordshire city to celebrate the written word. They include writers from the worlds of history, politics, economics, the natural world and current affairs, plus new fiction, memoir and biography for Lichfield audiences to immerse themselves in.



Guest authors at this year’s Literature Festival include the former BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones, whose memoir Ruskin Park is a heartfelt account of a family mystery with a shoe box of letters as clues; Festival favourite (and the Festival Writer/Historian in Residence 2024), Alison Weir brings the middle book of her Sunday Times best-selling Tudor Rose trilogy to Lichfield; Ian Dunt digs deep into our political system and its never-ending machinations in How Westminster Works...and Why It Doesn't and, in a similar vein, the Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, decodes our public finances at a time when what we spend and how we spend it is never far from the news headlines.

Two books look at the English and US Civil Wars respectively as popular historian Jessie Childs (The Siege of Loyalty House) makes a first visit to the Festival, joined by the returning Peter Moore (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness). Former BBC Radio 4 Today editor, Sarah Sands, also returns to Lichfield with her natural world and memoir cross-over The Hedgehog Diaries, and there is more from the animal world as Rosamund Young (author of a Times’ book of the year, The Secret Life of Cows) turns her attention to The Wisdom of Sheep & Other Animals. In fiction, there is much anticipation over the new release Small Hours by Bobby Palmer, whose Isaac and the Egg was a smash hit in 2022/23.



The Festival, which is again supported by West Midlands designer outlet McArthurGlen, and takes place at city centre venues The George Hotel, The Hub at St Mary’s and the Garrick Theatre, also welcomes Bob Cryer, son of comedy legend Barry Cryer, who reveals the story of the man behind the jokes (Same Time Tomorrow?). And, hot topics in current affairs are further addressed by Tiffany Jenkins’ book on the thorny question of the Elgin Marbles, Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning.

Meanwhile, Lichfield Festival is delighted to announce its newest Patron, the author, Tudor historian, broadcaster and joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Tracy Borman. Lichfield Festival Director, Damian Thantrey, said: “Tracy has been a regular and much-loved visitor to both our Literature and Summer Festivals in recent seasons, and we were very proud to have her as our Festival Writer/Historian in Residence in 2023. Despite her extremely busy and ever-growing career, she still always finds time to come to support our Festival – her every event is a guaranteed sell-out, and we are thrilled that she has agreed to become a Festival Patron.”



Tracy said: “It is such an honour to be invited to become a Festival Patron and means a great deal to me, given how close the Festival - and the city - are to my heart. Lichfield Festival is already such a huge success, and I will look forward both to taking part in future events and shouting about it from the rooftops!”

For further details and to buy tickets for the Lichfield Literature Festival visit: www.lichfieldfestival.org or call 01543 306271.

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