Clare Balding set for Dorchester Literary Festival

Clare Balding is part of the line-up of authors at this year's Dorchester Literary Festival, to be held from October 12 to 19.

The festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year 'with a stellar line-up befitting this momentous occasion', organisers say.

The aim is to produce a diverse programme that will 'entertain, inspire and enlighten the audience'.

Festival patron Tracy Chevalier said: "10 years of fascinating and entertaining guests, from cooks to crime writers, poets to politicians, Hardyeans to historians, scientists to cyclists.

"I have loved witnessing the festival’s growth and success. For a small town, Dorchester punches above its weight when it comes to culture, and the Dorchester Literary Festival is one of its gleaming jewels. Here’s to another 10 years."

Strong on history, politics and current affairs, subjects range from Jonathan Dimbleby’s account of the drama between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in his masterly narrative Endgame 1944 to Nustrit Mehtab’s Off the Beat, a visceral account of her 30 year career as a British Asian Muslim in the Met fighting misogyny and racism.

Clare Balding (Image: PA)

Clare Balding, who has recently fronted the BBC's Olympics coverage, will be talking about the many roles dogs fulfil and the history of how they became such an intrinsic part of our lives

Tom Baldwin will also discuss his biography of Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as ‘the most important political book of the year’ by Matthew D’Anacona in the Evening Standard.

Gardener’s World presenter Rachel de Thame explains how to create a garden that will nurture pollinators all year round while Christina Hart-Davis will share Britain’s long history of herbal remedies.

Countryfile’s Tom Heap sets out how we can give both humanity and nature the space to thrive in his book Land Smart and there is a wondrous introduction to the world of cloud spotting from Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.

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Jack Cornish will also share his intricate knowledge of Britain’s millennia-old path network from the Wainright shortlisted The Lost Paths.

Leading figures in UK fiction and poetry will be on site, including Pam Ayres and Booker Prize winning (2004, Line of Beauty) author Alan Hollinghurst with his poignant and wickedly funny new novel Our Evenings.

Kate Mosse will speak about her painstakingly researched novel The Map of Bones and also at the festival will be Tracy Chevalier, with her new novel The Glass Maker about Murano glassmaking through the centuries and Victoria Hislop, whose novel The Figurine set in Greece explores archaeology and cultural appropriation.

Rory Cellan-Jones (Image: PA)

Podcast hero Rory Cellan-Jones will share his moving story about adopting a rescue dog, made popular by the viral hashtag #SophieFromRomania.

Tickets will be on sale to Friends of the Festival from Friday, August 16 to Friday, August 30 and on general release from Saturday, August 31.

These and many other events are now viewable on the website Dorchester Literary Festival here