The first of UEA's two annual literary festivals for 2017 will see various award-winning writers, actors and politicians descend on the campus to discuss their work.

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Since 1991, the University of East Anglia has been hosting fantastic literary festivals, welcoming a range of writers, journalists, illustrators, scientists, politicians and more from across the world to showcase their ideas and talent.

The highly anticipated line-up for the 2017 Spring Literary Festival, which will run from February 22 to May 3, has just been announced and includes the likes of Lionel Shriver, the award-winning author of the Orange prize-winning We Need to Talk about Kevin, as well as Scottish author and playwright, Ali Smith.

Dr Philip Langeskov, festival director and lecturer in creative writing, said: 'After months of top-secret negotiations, it's always a thrill to reveal the line-up for the Spring Literary Festival. I think it's a fantastic programme – we have prize-winners galore, a certain former Shadow Chancellor and, in George Saunders, one of the most exciting writers at work today. It confirms that UEA continues to attract the world's best writing talent.'

Here's a look at the full line-up of events:

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• Lionel Shriver, the award-winning author of 12 novels, including Big Brother, visits UEA on February 22.

• On March 1 Elif Shafak, the most-widely read female author in Turkey and a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Guardian and Time magazine, discusses her 10 novels, including her latest, Daughters of Eve.

• Louise Doughty will be speaking about her eight novels, including top-10 bestseller Apple Tree Yard – recently made into a BBC series - on March 8.

• March 16 will see award-winning short story writer George Saunders, who was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2013 and releases his much-anticipated first novel in 2017, head to UEA.

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• Legendary Shakespearean actor Michael Pennington will talk about his the various roles he has taken on during his 50-year stage and screen career on March 22, as well as the 10 books he has written, including his latest, King Lear in Brooklyn.

• On April 26 former MP, Cabinet Minister, senior fellow at Harvard, visiting professor at King's College London as well as chairman of Norwich City FC and Strictly Come Dancing star, Ed Balls is in conversation about his memoir Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics.

• The Festival is set to conclude on May 3 with international best-seller Ali Smith, author of 15 books, including How to be Both, which won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and the Folio Prize.

All of these events will take place in UEA Lecture Theatre 1 and tickets are now available to purchase online from the Festival website www.uea.ac.uk/litfest/tickets

Season tickets (for all seven dates) are £48 full price and £40 concession. Individual tickets are £8 and student individual tickets are £4.

For more information, email the literary events team on literaryevents@uea.ac.uk