A dazzling array of prize-winning novelists, agenda-setters and opinion-formers, historians, filmmakers, artists, academics, journalists , poets, musicians and comedians will come together in celebration of the spoken and written word this October (7-16) for the 67th The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The programme, announced today and available in full here, embodies Cheltenham’s spirit of enquiry featuring some of the world’s most exciting thinkers and commentators, debating the most pertinent issues of our times. Variety is also the order of the day with literary greats rubbing shoulders with fresh new voices, established leaders with Youtube stars, across more than 600 events covering disciplines as diverse as history, politics, film, sport, food, art, fashion, nature, technology and business.

On the eve of the US Election, the Festival turns its gaze on America for one of its two main themes. America Uncovered will examine the fascinating culture, literature, politics and enormous global influence at this pivotal moment in the country’s history. The second major strand, Millennial Lives, spotlights the issues closest to, and most affecting, Generation Y – from the impacts of the latest technology, to the ideas gaining most traction in this rising demographic – plus the wider implications of how we live now.

Baroness Gail Rebuck, Chair of The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, said:

“Cheltenham Literature Festival 2016 will be the most exciting place to hear writers, politicians, academics and journalists explore new ways of seeing the world. Wide-ranging debates will be scheduled alongside unique opportunities to hear literary greats discuss their work, both past and present.

There will also be a chance to meet some of the leading figures in film, art, design and food – while also discovering fresh literary voices.

Cheltenham, Britain’s oldest literature festival, will also showcase millennial talent from bloggers to spoken word poets, offering up yet another year of inspired curation and intellectual challenge”.

Coming to #cheltlitfest 2016
Oliver Stone, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Ian McEwan, Alan Cumming, Cheryl Strayed, PJ O’Rourke, Lionel Shriver, Jonathan Safran Foer, Teju Cole, Michael Connelly, Ed Balls, Ken Clarke, Graham Swift, Sebastian Faulks, Edna O’Brien, Clare Balding, Jilly Cooper, Armando Iannucci, Wilko Johnson, Simon Armitage, Joe Wicks, Deliciously Ella, Joey Barton, Vivienne Westwood, Chris Riddell, Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Chris Hadfield to headline. Plus: comedians Alan Carr, Sara Pascoe and Alexei Sayle, illusionist Derren Brown, and many more…