Author of hit book on Trump and Putin joins festival bill

Author of hit book on Trump and Putin joins festival bill

Did Vladimir Putin’s Russia conspire to influence the 2016 US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump?

That alarming allegation – which Putin and the American president strongly deny – is at the heart of Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House by Luke Harding, the award-winning foreign correspondent who was the Guardian’s bureau chief in Moscow from 2007 to 2011.

Mr Harding will be on stage at the Jersey Opera House on 29 September to talk about his investigation into the nature of Mr Trump’s relationship with Russia. The investigation began after a meeting with former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, whose dramatic dossier alleged that the Kremlin had been ‘cultivating, supporting and assisting’ the future President for years.

The allegations detailed in the book have huge implications for international relations, the rapidly developing debate over ‘fake news’ and the whole future of cyberspace.

Celebrated espionage novelist John le Carré said of Collusion: ‘A superb piece of work, wonderfully done and essential reading for anyone who cares about his country.’

And professor Richard Dawkins, a star of last year’s Jersey Festival of Words, said of the book: ‘[It is] utterly damning and devastating. Meticulously, scrupulously researched and mesmerising.’

As well as his posting in Moscow, Luke Harding has reported from Delhi, Berlin, Afghanistan and Iraq. His other books include The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man, and A Very Expensive Poison – about the murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

The fourth Jersey Festival of Words takes place at venues around the Island from Wednesday 26 September to Sunday 30 September.

In previous years the festival has featured such literary luminaries as Warhorse author Michael Morpurgo and Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Last year Clare Balding, the television presenter and acclaimed children’s author, was one of the many headline names who appeared at the event.

And this year a wide range of best-selling authors have already been announced for the festival, including the hugely popular crime-thriller writer Peter James – now resident in the Island – and Joanna Trollope, author of 20 best-selling novels including Marrying the Mistress.

Lemn Sissay, who is one of Britain’s most popular and celebrated performance poets, will also be taking part in the event.

The festival will deliver a bumper programme for schools too, with Andrew Cope – writer of the popular Spy Dog series – and Laura Ellen Anderson, author of the celebrated Amelia Fang stories, just two of the eye-catching names booked to appear.

More star authors will be announced soon for the festival, which will also serve as a platform for local writers.

lFor more information visit jerseyfestivalofwords.org.

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