Ambassadors

Maggie O'Farrell - Festival Patron

Maggie is the author of nine best-selling books, including The Hand that First Held Mine and I Am, I Am, I Am. She agreed to become Patron after working with the Festival on establishing a memorial to Shakespeare's son, who was the subject of her Women's Prize-winning novel, Hamnet, which is due to be made into a film by Steven Speilberg's production company. The memorial in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Shakespeare's resting place, features two trees, one to Hamnet and one to his twin sister, Judith. 'I am honoured and delighted to become the Festival's Patron,' she says. 'I’m so impressed with its outreach programme and am thrilled to be able to support its activities like this. I am looking forward to being involved with the Festival for years to come.'

Julia Donaldson - Festival Outreach Patron

Julia Donaldson is the country's most popular writer for young children whose many books include The Gruffalo. We have always loved having her with us at the Festival. She says of becoming Patron: ‘I have appeared at the Festival several times and have been very impressed by the work they are doing outside of the twice-yearly book festival. I believe it is a charity really committed to supporting literacy in young people, with all the life benefits that brings, and I am very pleased to be supporting what they do.’

Dame Jacqueline Wilson

Dame Jacqueline Wilson is one of the nation’s favourite authors for children and she has sold millions of books worldwide and over 35 million in the UK alone. Best known perhaps for her Tracy Beaker series, she has been on countless award shortlists and has won The Guardian Fiction award, The Children’s Book Award and Book of the Year, The Smarties Medal, and the Blue Peter Choice Award. She has been Children's Laureate and has an OBE. In 2008 she became a Dame.

Clive Myrie

Clive is a Bafta nominated journalist, who has been at the forefront of current affairs, broadcasting and documentary making since the 90s. He has reported from more than 80 countries on some of the most important news events over the last 30 years. he is now BBC News presenter and chairs the BBC's quiz show Mastermind. The author of Everything is Everything about his upbringing, he has also been a judge of the Baillie Gifford Prize. On being a Festival Ambassador he says: 'Here’s to being a fairy godfather!'

Picture: Lorentz Gullachsen

Simon Armitage

The Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage is a poet, playwright, novelist, lyricist and broadcaster, who writes extensively for television and radio. In 2014 he published Paper Aeroplane, a selection marking the 25th anniversary of the appearance of his ground-breaking debut poetry collection Zoom! He has won numerous awards for his work including a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for his song lyrics in the television film Feltham Sings. His poems have been part of GCSE and A level exams in this country for nearly two decades now. Armitage was Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield and was elected Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford in 2015. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2010 was made CBE for services to poetry.

Dr Adam Rutherford

Adam is a geneticist, author, lecturer at UCL and broadcaster who frequently appears on science programmes on both radio and TV. He presents BBC Radio 4’s flagship programme Start the Week and was the host of Inside Science for eight years. His also co-presents the Radio 4 series The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Professor Hannah Fry and is a key member of the Authors Cricket XI.

Picture: Stefan Jakubowsk

Dame Harriet Walter

Dame Harriet Walter has worked extensively in theatre, TV, film and radio. Her many roles with the RSC, where she is an Associate Artist, include Cleopatra, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Macbeth opposite Anthony Sher, Brutus in Julius Caesar and Henry in Henry IV. She won the Evening Standard Award for her role as Elizabeth in Phyllida Lloyd’s production of Schiller’s Mary Stuart and a Tony nomination on Broadway in 2009. Her best known TV roles include Succession, Harriet Vane in Lord Peter Wimsey series, Law and Order UK and Downton Abbey, and her numerous film credits include Young Victoria, Atonement, Babel, Bright Young Things, Sense and Sensibility and Louis Malle’s Milou et Mai.

Professor Emma Smith

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford, and the author of This Is Shakespeare and Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers. She is a huge fan of the festival. ‘Shakespeare had to leave for London to get his literary fix’, she says. ‘But the Literary Festival is now leading a lively cultural scene in his home town, and I am delighted to support its important work.’

Picture: Lorentz Gullachsen

Philip Ardagh

Philip Ardagh, a festival regular, is the award-winning author of the Eddie Dickens adventures. His first Grubtown Tales won him the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, he wrote radio’s first truly interactive radio drama, and collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney on his first children’s book. His series, The Grunts, is illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Philip lives down south somewhere, has a wife and son, and a very large beard, and he was our Guest Children's Events Director in 2016.

Susanna Wadeson

Susanna Wadeson is publishing director at Torva, the non fiction inprint at Transworld Publishers. She has edited the work of many leading writers including Rachel Joyce, author of the very successful The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry made into a film starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton. She regularly appears at the Festival with advice for writers on getting published.

Korky Paul

Korky Paul is also a festival regular and is renowned for his superb and witty illustrations for the hugely popular Winnie The Witch series, winner of the Children’s Book Award. He has illustrated many other children’s titles and has also won the coveted European Multi-Media Award. He visits schools regularly promoting his passion for drawing and has children captivated by his drawings. Korky (real name Hamish Vigne Christie Paul) grew up in Zimbabwe but thankfully now lives much closer in Oxford and a bit further away in Greece.