A whole host of star names will be appearing Wells Festival of Literature 2019, and organisers are hailing it as their best line-up yet.

For 2019, the festival organisers didn't wait until September to announce the line-up, because, as committee member Rosie Inge claims, it is "the best line up I've seen over my ten years involvement with the festival".

This year brings a heady selection of controversies, dilemmas, social commentators, historians, artists, entertainers, poets, novelists, well-known household names, and tomorrow's voices.

See author, broadcaster and parliamentarian, Melvyn Bragg, opening a window on to Abelard and Heloise; novelists Patrick Gale and Jim al-Khalili; scientist Adam Rutherford's telling How We Became Us; historians Christopher Andrew, revealing worlds of secrecy and spying, and Diarmid McCullough assessing Thomas Cromwell; Peter Hennessy exposing early 1960s Britain; Alison Weir wondering whether Anna of Kleves' lack of beauty saved her from Henry VIII; or bestselling author Joanna Cannon sharing her novel with local bookgroups. 

Audiences last year requested memoirs, so for 2019 there will be BBC news editor, Kamal Ahmed; punk-pop singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn's teenage angst; Costa winner Bart von Es's account of Lena, the 'hidden' Jewish child; and Guardian food correspondent Felicity Cloake's hunt for the perfect croissant.

The performance event Write Up! Speak Up! offers local performers a five minute slot on the festival stage and the week culminates in a mixed-media extravaganza finale from Roger McGough and his band LiTTLe MACHiNe.

Full details are in the brochure, via the red button below or the festival Facebook page. Don't delay: Chris Patten is sold out and others are selling fast.