Where: Various venues in Stroud

When: November 6-10

The directors of the Stroud Book Festival are delighted to announce that Ian McEwan will be headlining this year's festival.

The Booker-winning author (and Stroud Book Festival patron) will be in conversation about Machines Like Me, his subversive and entertaining new novel about artificial intelligence, which poses fundamental questions about what makes us human.

The Stroud Book Festival runs from November 6-10. The full line-up will be revealed this summer and will aim to build on the success of the 2018 festival, which finished its five-day run with record ticket sales, sell-out events and a line-up widely praised both for its variety and broad appeal.

The festival programme will once again include a Schools Day, writing competitions, Stroud Short Stories and much more besides.

Stroud Book Festival's artistic director Caroline Sanderson said: "We're delighted that Ian McEwan has agreed to appear at this year's festival, and look forward to announcing more exciting events in the coming weeks.

"Children's artistic director Jane Churchill and I are already hard at work to bring a host of authors to Stroud who will animate, educate and entertain our audiences this coming November."

Festival director Paul McLaughlin said: "We are hugely grateful for the support we received from the local business community in 2018 and look forward to partnering again with so many brilliant Stroud companies and organisations.

"We are also very excited by the prospect of working closely with the new team at the Subscription Rooms as both venue and box office."