Stephen Fry is set to lead a line-up of literary stars in a festival of the written word at the University of East Anglia this autumn.
Award-winning novelists Eimear McBride and Ian McEwan are also among the writers to feature in the International Arthur Miller Centre Literary Festival which this year marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies.
Prof Chris Bigsby, director of the Arthur Miller Centre, said: 'With prize-winning writers from three continents, this year's Arthur Miller Centre International Literary Festival earns its name. With writers as varied as Stephen Fry, Margaret Drabble and Ian McEwan, whose latest novel has caused such a stir, not to mention Norwich's own multiple award-winning Eimear McBride, along with Bernard Cornwell, author of the Richard Sharpe novels, there is surely something for everyone.'
The first event, on October 8, features Norfolk actor, playwright, novelist and director Stephen Fry who will discuss the latest volume of his autobiography, More Fool Me.
UEA graduate Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire and winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award and Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel, is at the UEA on October 15, while Atonement and Sweet Tooth author Ian McEwan's appearance is on October 22. Bernard Cornwell, creator of the historical fiction series made into the TV series Sharpe, will visit on October 27, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jane Smiley, known for work such as A Thousand Acres, Private Life and A Good Horse, is in Norwich in November 5. Eimear McBride, whose debut novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing won The Goldsmiths Prize and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, will speak on Nov 12 alongside Margaret Drabble, author of 18 novels including The Pure Gold Baby.
Two authors will take to the stage on November 18 - Lawrence Norfolk, author of The Pope's Rhinoceros and John Saturnall's Feast, and David Vann, whose novels have been translated into 20 languages and won 15 prizes.
Richard Holmes, professor of biographical studies at the UEA from 2001 to 2007, brings the festival to a close on November 26. His works include biographies of Shelley and Coleridge. His book The Age of Wonder won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books and his most recent work is Falling Upwards.
• All events begin at 7pm in the UEA's Lecture Theatre 1. Season tickets for all eight events cost £49 (concessions £42) and tickets for individual events cost £7 (no concessions). Call the UEA box office on 01603 508050 or visit www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk/events.
• Do you have Norwich arts story? Email arts correspondent Emma Knights at emma.knights@archant.co.uk
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