2019 Programme

Classicist, art historian and cultural critic Daisy Dunn reveals the lives of Pliny the Elder (admiral of the fleet and author of a phenomenal encyclopaedia of Natural History), who...

Join Robin Hanbury-Tenison to discover 500 years of exploration told through the biographical portraits of the great expeditions of 40 of the world’s most intrepid explorers from da Gama...

Lily Blacksell, who has performed in venues from Battersea Arts Centre to New York’s Bowery Poetry Club, will be reading from her pamphlet, There’s No Such Thing, along with...

In 2001 Jack Straw became the first senior British Foreign Secretary to visit Iran since the 1979 revolution and has developed a growing interest in the country ever since....

An accountant and company director for 20 year, Mary S Lovell wrote her first book in 1981 at the age of 40. She has been writing full time for...

In an era when politicians are responsible for the Brexit logjam and embroiled in sexual-harassment and expenses scandals, it’s no wonder we’ve lost our faith in government. Every year...

Edward Bulfin was an unusual general who rose to high rank in the Great War, in spite of his Irish Catholic birth and close nationalist relations, nor having attended...

A new book that will turn the established history of the Second World War on its head. Four years ago two Isle of Wight historians came together to reassess...

Andrew Roberts’s new book Churchill: Walking with Destiny has been described by 11 newspapers, including the Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, as the best single-volume...

Sarah Langford is a barrister. Her job is to stand in court representing the mad and the bad, the vulnerable, the heartbroken and the hopeful. She must become their...

Elly Griffiths will discuss her prominent writing career and her bestselling series of Dr Ruth Galloway novels, which are set in Norfolk and feature a forensic archaeologist. The twelfth...

By merging true crime with memoir, Professor Angela Gallop, one of the world’s most eminent forensic scientists, provides a gripping account of some of the thousands of cases she...

From the bestselling author of The Girl in the Red Coat comes a raw and powerful novel. Phoebe stands on Pulteney Bridge, tights gashed from toe to thigh. The...

 Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes has worked with some of the most complex and challenging criminals as well as the victims of crime. A large part of her day job...

From the bestselling author of Apple Tree Yard comes a gripping, brilliant, original and eerily-timely novel. Platform Seven at 4am: Peterborough Railway Station is deserted. The man crossing the...

In 1661 Louis XIV called the English ‘the ancient and irreconcilable enemies’ of the French. The two countries fought two world wars against each other, in 1689-1697 and 1702-1713....

The Redeemed is the final instalment of the highly acclaimed West Country trilogy – Tim Pears’ spellbinding chronicle of love, exile and belonging in a world on the brink...

In the early 1800s Lehmann Gluckstein and his family escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe and made their way to Whitechapel in the East End of London. There, starting...

Join bestselling crime writer Denzil Meyrick as he discusses the seventh book in his thrilling D.C.I. Daley series, A Breath on Dying Embers. The luxury cruiser SS Great Britain,...

The success story of the British royal family can be laid at the door of Prince Albert, who after his death in 1861, turned into a man who could...

Henry VIII is famous for being the king who married six times. But it was the men in his life, far more than the women, who shaped this notorious...

Swan Song is the fictionalised reimagining of the later life of Truman Capote. It is a novel about the line between gossip and slander, self-creating and self preservation and...

Celebrating her 80th birthday Diana Moran’s new book has been written in association with the Royal Osteoporosis Society. The book is based on the latest research from the ROS...

Jeremy Robson talks about his life as a successful poet and publisher that saw him work with many bestselling authors and occupy a place at the heart of the...

How do our fellow creatures – large and small – find their way around? David Barrie explores the many wonders (and outstanding mysteries) of animal navigation.  What guides a...

The Language of Birds was inspired by the Lord Lucan case and the ‘lovely young nanny’ at its centre, whose history has been largely forgotten. It’s the summer of...

The British and Russian Royal Families met three times before the Romanovs’ tragic end in 1918. Frances Welch draws back the curtain on those pivotal encounters between these two...

British record-breaking adventurer, author, speaker and leadership coach, Adrian Hayes, details the deeply moving story of the beauty and brutality of life, and death, on the world’s notorious second...

Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, will discuss how the museum’s founding commitment to design, education and industry continues to define it today. Tracing the...

Kwasi Kwarteng in conversation with Sir Richard Ottaway, discusses the research and writing process that produced his book, Thatcher’s Trial: Six Months That Defined a Leader. Within two years...

The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves, a nuanced portrayal of two remarkable people and their complex marriage, marks the 40th anniversary of Lord Mountbatten’s assassination by the IRA.  Drawing...

Join columnist, writer and broadcaster Lynne Truss as she discusses The Man That Got Away, the second book in her charming and witty new crime series. It is summer...

Join one of the UK’s best comics, TV star, presenter and writer, Jo Brand, as she talks about her latest book, Born Lippy: How To Do Female.  Packed with...

Ex-policeman Colin Butcher had just set up his own pet detective agency. It was running smoothly but he realised he needed a partner. Enter Molly, an unloved and unwanted...

In Here Comes the Sun, Steve Jones shows how life on Earth is ruled by our nearest star. It is filled with unexpected connections; between the need to stay...

Epic Continent is a travel book about Nicholas Jubber’s journey in the slipstream of six epic tales across Europe, from Turkey to Iceland. In the course of his travels,...

Out On An Island is delighted to bring Clare Summerskill to the Red Funnel Isle of Wight Literary Festival. Summerskill has vast experience as a writer, actor and stand...

Michael Morpurgo returns to the Red Funnel Isle of Wight Festival to speak about his new novel Boy Giant. Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, Boy Giant is the story of...