Dame Judi Dench is to discuss her Shakespearean acting roles at Cheltenham Literature Festival. The veteran stage and screen star is among a number of celebrity speakers who will be attending this year’s festival, which is celebrating its 75th year. The Oscar-winning actress, 89, will talk about her book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent, in which she discusses the roles she has played through the years from Lady Macbeth to Cleopatra.
Dame Judi Dench visits Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, to receive the honour of Freewoman of the town (Fabio De Paola/PA) The Gloucestershire-based festival will also see a conversation between Spice Girl Geri Horner and Emma Freud, who will discuss the singer’s journey into activism and writing children’s fiction. Actress Celia Imrie, who is to star in the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club, will discuss her new novel, Meet Me At Rainbow Corner, inspired by the resilience and camaraderie of women during the Second World War. Elsewhere Sir Michael Palin will return to the festival to talk about his diaries from 1999 to 2009 while St Trinian’s actor Rupert Everett will discuss his varied career and new collection of short stories.
Both chat show host Lorraine Kelly and presenter Fearne Cotton will talk about their respective debut novels while author David Nicholls will discuss his new romance novel and also revisit his bestselling book One Day in the year it became a major Netflix .