After a year off due to the pandemic, Cliveden Literary Festival returns to its Grade I-listed home for 2021
Cliveden Literary Festival, which takes its name from the gorgeous National Trust property it's held at, kicks off this weekend with a wonderful two-day programme that celebrates literature, history and politics. The guest list boasts high-profile writers, historians, politicians and cultural figures, and there are plenty of highlights with a Jewish flavour.
Launching in 2017, the festival embodies the building’s long tradition as a literary and political salon – most notably having hosted the Cliveden Set in the 1930s, a politically influential group who were all in Hitler’s Black Book to be arrested once the Nazis invaded Britain. Now Cliveden House is a five-star hotel, but the Grade I-listed, 19th-century Italianate mansion (the first two, dating back to 1666, having succumbed to fires) has also been the backdrop to numerous films, including The Beatle’s Help! and 2009’s Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr, and was the site of the Profumo affair.
Leila Slimani, Howard Jacobson, Ian McEwan and Kate Mosse, 2019
Day one of the festivities sees author and comedian David Baddiel in conversation with historian Simon Sebag Montefiore about how progressives foster antisemitism; journalist Barbara Amiel reveals her rollercoaster ride from Hendon schoolgirl to press baroness; and Israeli actor Lior Raz, star of Fauda, talks about the hit spy thriller. Then on Sunday 24 October, hear Ronen Bergman discussing the astonishing trials, triumphs and tragedies of Mossad, the Israeli secret service; and writer and filmmaker Hannah Rothschild joins journalist and author Natalie Livingstone to share the untold stories of the Rothschild women.
As well as the stellar events, there will be a selection of vendors in the forecourt and the food marquee, plus Veuve Cliquot Champagne and Horsebox Coffee.
By Danielle Goldstein
Photos courtesy of Cliveden Literary Festival
Cliveden Literary Festival runs Saturday 23 – Sunday 24 October. Times Vary. £58-£205. Cliveden House, Taplow, SL6 0JF. clivedenliteraryfestival.org