A diverse series of events, with speakers ranging from Sir Salman Rushdie and Mary Berry to Ed Balls, has been announced for The Bath Festival 2017.
Bath’s new flagship festival of music and literature, which builds on the heritage of the Bath Literature and Bath International Music Festivals, will boast more than 130 events over 10 days from May 19 to 28.
It will bring some of the world’s leading writers, musicians and cultural figures into the city’s iconic buildings and onto its streets. 
Classical, jazz and folk music will be heard alongside contemporary fiction, intelligent debate, science, history, politics and poetry, with concerts, discussions and collaborations and many free events across the city of Bath.
The festival will be launched with Bath’s biggest free night of music, Party in the City, on May 19.
Organisers said artistic directors Alex Clark, David Jones and James Waters had created a programme to provoke and delight – inviting audiences to enjoy performances, exchange ideas, enable discussions and stop the world for a moment to listen to one another.
Chair of Bath Festivals John Cullum DL said: “We will celebrate the city of Bath with the Bath Festival over 10 days in May by creating a more visible arts festival building on Bath’s heritage of successful music and literature festivals.
“The festival will have an accessible and vibrant programme that embraces the wider performing arts, with broad appeal for our city, engaging the wider community and our valued visitors. The events will take place across the exciting range of social and community spaces that our city offers.
“Leading thinkers, writers and musicians will perform with the most gifted new talent emerging on the global stage. The festival will also provide a platform for the year-round extensive learning and participation programme that Bath Festivals run for over 6,000 young people, many with few opportunities to engage with the arts.”
Highlights of the 2017 programme include: 
Literature
Sir Salman Rushdie, pictured bottom, in his only appearance outside Paris and London, talks about his remarkable life in writing as he approaches his 70th birthday
Much-loved doyenne of the kitchen Mary Berry, pictured top, talks about her extraordinary career in cookery and her new book Mary Berry Everyday
An unflinching look at Trump’s first 100 days in office, with academic and writer Sarah Churchwell, novelist Lionel Shriver, journalist Tim Dowling and special guests in our US Politics debate
Ali Smith discusses Autumn, her brilliant new novel, written last summer to chime with rapidly unfolding political events
Henny Beaumont and Sally Phillips discuss their personal family experiences of living with Down’s Syndrome
A rare chance to hear Palestine’s leading writer Raja Shehadeh, founder of the human rights organisation Al-Haq, exploring the connections that have been forged across the Israeli-Palestine border over decades
In The Goodness of Dogs, India Knight discusses her combined passion for all things canine with an exhaustive guide to the practicalities of choosing, caring for and living with dogs
Victoria Hislop talks about Cartes Postales from Greece – a powerful combination of stories and photographs that takes us around all Greece’s hidden corners 
Celebrated Australian writer Tim Winton in conversation with Philip Hensher about his new memoir, The Boy Behind the Curtain
Award-winning author of Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín, talks to Artistic Director Alex Clark about his hotly anticipated new novel, House of Names
Sebastian Barry discusses his Costa Novel Award-winning Days Without End
Twinkle-toed Ed Balls, pictured centre, talks about his life in and out of politics, and his refreshingly different political memoir, Speaking Out
Two literary legends – Margaret Drabble and Fay Weldon – in conversation about their decades of experience and remarkable careers
Music
One of the great musicians of our time, Herbert Blomstedt, conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, with pianist Martin Helmchen
Original and charismatic pianist Jeremy Denk plays a mix of baroque and classical music interspersed with composers’ takes on ragtime for an unforgettable concert
New festival series BathSongs – a sumptuous mix of words, music and song, with top artists and rising stars. This year’s six concerts, Brahms to Broadway, take us on a journey through beautiful songs from folk to classical to Broadway
Marking 450 years since the birth of Claudio Monteverdi, the Dunedin Consort perform Love’s Fire; Love’s Ashes – Madrigals by Monteverdi, directed by Nicholas Mulroy
Celia Bernardini – widely considered to be one of the most versatile violinists of her generation – plays three lunchtime concerts of Bach’s extraordinary music for solo violin
Tenebrae perform Joby Talbot’s ravishing and intense Path of Miracles in Bath Abbey. Plus Owain Park’s Footsteps, including children from Wells Cathedral School
The very special Georgie Fame with his distinctive singing style embracing R&B, jazz, and straight-ahead grooving, performs with the Guy Barker Big Band for an evening of pure class
A Bath Festival premiere, Stormy, celebrates dancer, movie star, singer and activist Lena Horne in her centenary year, starring Camilla Beeput and directed by Maxwell Golden with creative director Clarke Peters
American singer Madeleine Peyroux performs from her new and highly-acclaimed album Secular Hymns, with emotional and deeply personal interpretations of songs by Tom Waits, Jacques Brel, Allen Toussaint and more
The greatest English folk song performer of them all, Martin Carthy, plays with Bellowhead’s Sam Sweeney for the very first time. Part of the New Meetings series
One of the world’s great kora players, Ballake Sissoko, joins forces with French cellist Vincent Segal for a thrilling, soulful duet, featuring music from their two albums Chamber Music and Musique de Nuit
New York acappella band Naturally 7 build on their gospel roots with “vocal play” – creating scratching, drums, guitar and more with the human voice. A must-see performance
Words and Music
Internationally celebrated cellist Steven Isserlis discusses his new, extensive commentary on Robert Schumann’s Advice to Young Musicians with actor, national treasure and Schumann superfan Simon Callow
Bob Dylan: A Celebration – Dylanologists gather for a gala evening of music and discussion about the musician, lyricist and now Nobel Prize Laureate. Guests include Sid Griffin, Barb Jungr and David Hepworth
Madeleine Thien’s epic tale about revolutionary China, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, centres on a group of classical musicians, with Bach’s Goldberg Variations featuring prominently in the story. She talks about the book, with live music from pianist Richard Uttley
For the full programme, visit thebathfestival.org.uk
