Big names from music and comedy join Wolverhampton Literature Festival line-up
A new selection of famous names have been added to the line-up for a popular literature festival.
Heavy metal legends, comedians and popular authors have joined the line-up for the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, which has moved to a virtual setting in its fifth year due to lockdown.
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford will be returning to his Black Country roots on February 12 to discuss his new memoir "Confess", which charts his journey from a council estate to international musical fame.
Rob, who lived in Walsall as a youngster, will also speak about some of the unlikely encounters he has had in his career, from the likes of Superman, Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson and the Queen.
Author Will Self will be returning to the festival on February 14 to look at the intricacies of remembering fiction we read in the past and how our perspective changes when we re-read stories.
Alongside professor of English Literature at Wolverhampton University Sebastian Groes and Dr Tom Mercer, Will Self will invite audience members to take part in an interactive memory experiment, which is co-organised by BBC Arts and research project Novel Perceptions.
Finally, comedian Robin Ince will be speaking to Susan Murray about his new book "I’m A Joke and So Are You" on February 14.
The two will be highlighting the hilarious and often moving examination of the human condition with fun, laughter and some insight into the audience’s psyche.
Tickets for the new events will go on sale from 10am on Tuesday, January 26 and will be strictly limited to 90 so that audiences are given more opportunities for questions to be answered.
Wolverhampton Council cabinet member for city economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: "It is fantastic that the line-up of the festival is being added to and that the festival is attracting talent from around the world from all creative industries.
"There is so much to get involved in and with these new events added I urge everyone to take a look at these exclusive and intimate virtual events."
The new events sit alongside other festival headliners, which include author Sathnam Sanghera, Line of Duty and Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio and activist Patrick Vernon OBE.
For more information on the Wolverhampton Literature Festival programme, go to wolveslitfest.co.uk.
