Audiences were treated to vibrant conversations and stimulating debate on issues ranging from food to fairy tales, politics to hill-walking and hawks to civil rights. The day began with a direct connection to the First World War as Shirley Williams discussed her Mother's powerful memoir, Testament of Youth; Jack Monroe spoke bravely and honestly about her personal experiences of poverty and her recent twitter storm; Laura Bates gave a passionate and empowering speech about sexism in which she drew parallels between feminism and environmental campaigns; Owen Jones and Shami Chakrabarti gave compelling and persuasive reasons as to why Britain needs a change to its ruling elite; historian Caroline Moorehead offered an enthusiastic and convincing defence of her controversial book Village of Secrets; fiction was well represented with festival patron Ali Smith captivating audiences with her playful brilliance and Sheila 'growing old gracefully' Hancock was engaging and funny as she discussed her debut novel Miss Carter's War.
This fantastic weekend of literary magic was the perfect way to begin the festive season. If you can't wait for your next literary fix and have your 2015 diary to hand, do mark in the dates of our spring festival which runs from 15-19 April.
If you attended Cambridge Literary Festival's Winter event, please give us your feedback.
If you are having festival withdrawal symptoms, then check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for some snaps of the day!