Wantage Literary Festival – Day 8

Janina Ramirez | Legenda: The Real Women Behind the Myths that Shaped Europe

Biography | Popular History
14+ years | 2.00pm | The Beacon
Adult £15.00 | Student £8

In LEGENDA, bestselling historian Professor Janina Ramirez uncovers the real women behind Europe’s legends and asks how their stories have shaped ideas of nationhood. From Joan of Arc and Lady Godiva to overlooked 18th- and 19th-century visionaries, she reveals how women’s lives have been misrepresented, forgotten, or used to serve nationalist and political agendas.

Geopolitical | Environmental
Global Power | 14+ years
Sat 7th Nov | 2.15pm The Beacon
Adult £13.50 | Student £8

Arthur Snell is an author and former British diplomat. An expert on geopolitics and climate change, he has over 30 years’ experience in conflict zones and fragile states throughout the Middle East and Africa. He has advised governments, including Ukraine during the current conflict, on security and conflict-related issues. In Elemental, he delivers a comprehensive account of the geopolitics of climate change.

Dominic Gregory | Lifeboat at the End of the World: A Volunteers Story

Biography | Volunteering | Heroism
14+ years | 3. 30pm | The Beacon
Adult £13.50 | Student £8

For two hundred years, the Dungeness lifeboat has launched in storms and heavy seas. Lifeboat at the End of the World is the first book to reveal what it is like to volunteer on a lifeboat: the smells of the water, the training, the teamwork, trust, and the ethos of the service. But when inflatable dinghies overloaded with people begin arriving on the shores of Dungeness, the lifeboat crew must face their greatest test. Dominic Gregory’s non-fiction writing offers extraordinary power and immediacy.

Stephen Sackur

Hard Truth: 10 Investigations that Shook the World And Why They Matter Now
Investigative Journalism
Current Affairs | Media
14+ years | 4.00pm | The Beacon
Adult £13.50 | Student £8

Drawing on his long and distinguished reporting career, in HARD Truth, Stephen Sackur mounts a passionate case for truth-telling in the face of authoritarian political power, organised crime, and a monopolistic tech elite. In a world turned toxic by disinformation, where lies are weaponised and the truth is targeted, independent journalists are increasingly on the frontline of the fight to save democracy and fight for the truth. Stephen talks to Mitali Mukherjee; Director of the Reuters Institute of Journalism.

Biography | Royal History | Politics
14+ years | 6.00pm | The Beacon
Adult £13.50 | Student £8

Andrew Lownie talks about Entitled, the first joint biography of the former Duke and Duchess of York. Entitled traces the lives of the late Queen’s second son and his ex-wife through their childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers, and royal and charitable activities. It also highlights their long, close and dependent friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Rigorously researched and packed full of revelations, discover more from the author behind this is eye-watering biography. Andrew talks to Andrew Caplen.