Established in 2017 and now in its seventh year, Cliveden Literary Festival will take place from 21st – 22nd September 2024.

Hosted at the iconic Cliveden House in Berkshire, the 2023 festival heard Zadie Smith and Maggie O’Farrell explain their magical literary craft and discuss the future of literary fiction; Mary Beard and Tom Holland describe the power of history-making from Ancient Rome to the present day, podcasts and all; and panels on matters as urgent as Middle Eastern warfare with Peter Frankopan and modern espionage with ex-MI6 chief Alex Younger; the salvation of the British economy with Emma Walmsley, or the likelihood of a Labour election triumph with David Lammy and Emily Maitlis. From politics and warfare domestic and global, to the meaning of imagination and creativity will play in a role of AI, and much, much more, the most urgent and stimulating questions of our age were discussed.

Renowned as a forum for lively discussion, innovative ideas, and political debate, Cliveden Literary Festival has been described by Ian McEwan as ‘probably the world’s best small literary festival,’ and by Alain de Botton as ‘the most dignified and beautiful literary festival on the planet’.

Run by a committee of writers and historians – Natalie Livingstone, Catherine Ostler, Simon Sebag Montefiore and Andrew Roberts – Cliveden Literary Festival draws on Cliveden House’s unique history as a literary salon frequented by writers and thinkers including Alexander Pope, Alfred Lord Tennyson, George Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Swift and Sir Winston Churchill.