A host of writers, historians and influencers will descend on Bucks for the Cliveden Literary Festival in September.

Speakers will include Sit Antony Beevor, Priti Patel, Cherie Blair and Niall Ferguson, as the festival returns to the exquisite surroundings of the Italianate Grade I listed Cliveden House for the second year on September 29 and 30.

In 2017, Cliveden House’s long tradition as a political and literary salon was revived with the launch of the Cliveden Literary Festival.

The 2018 programme features writers and historians Tina Brown, Helen Castor, Sir Harry Evans, Misha Glenny, Dan Jones, Suzannah Lipscomb, Natalie Livingstone, Margaret MacMillan, Catherine Ostler, John Preston, Professor David Reynolds, Andrew Roberts, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Kate Williams and Andrea Wulf, broadcaster Zeinab Badawi, psychologist Tanya Byron, former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service Sir Richard Dearlove, architects Lord Rogers and Amanda Levete, cultural leaders Director of the V&A Tristram Hunt and CEO of Serpentine Galleries Yana Peel, businesswoman Dame Helena Morrissey and actress Ruth Wilson.

Panel topics and sessions include reflections on WWI in its centenary year, female monarchs, and women and power. female monarchs and great literary adaptations for film and television.

Festival chairman and author of The Mistresses of Cliveden, Natalie Livingstone, said: “I am thrilled that Cliveden is once again hosting such an exciting array of cultural tastemakers, brilliant writers and speakers.”

And festival president, author Professor Andrew Roberts commented: “Following the great success of last year, we are very excited to be presenting another amazing line up, which reflects Cliveden’s central place in the worlds of history, politics, architecture, powerful women and the arts.”

Cliveden House sits above the Thames in Bucks, surrounded by 376 acres of National Trust grounds.

In the course of its 350-year history, Cliveden has frequently been a setting for political machinations, romantic intrigues, and intellectual debates. 

For tickets, visit clivedenliteraryfestival.org.