Last chance to join the live audience at Cedars Hall for this year! Come and rediscover the delights of listening to engaging speakers live. Visit Waterstones' pop up bookshop and buy books with plates signed by the authors, or treat yourself to a drink and a snack in the café in the foyer. Please visit our website www.wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk to purchase tickets or register for live-streaming. Please remember all donations for the live-streaming help our work in Somerset state schools

There is something for everyone: cookery, history, heartwarming insight into of end of life care, how a young immigrant living in poverty and deprivation overcame the shocking inequality in our country and, last but not least, a witty political tale. All these events are on SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER.

Olia Hercules' book 'Summer Kitchens' is named after the magicaL summer kitchens of her parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends in Ukraine.These were small buildings where the family would decamp over the summer, separate from the main house, but always near a fruit plot or vegetable patch so families could enjoy the home-grown produce and preserve the surplus in preparation for winter. Olia shares some of her favourite recipes, while transporting you to idyllic summer kitchens past and present, offering a window into an enchanted, hidden world.

Alexander Watson, Prize-winning author of 'Ring of Steel', explores one of the most defining events of the First World War in his latest book 'The Fortress'. The siege of the Austro-Hungarian fortress of Przemysl was the longest of the whole war. Almost unknown in the West, this was one of the great turning points of the war. If the Russians had broken through, they could have invaded Central Europe, but by the time the fortress fell their strength was so sapped they could go no further.

Helen Taylor is Emeritus Professor of English at Exeter University. Drawing on extensive interviews with women readers and writers (including Hilary Mantel, Helen Dunmore, Katie Fford and Sarah Dunant) her thought-provoking book, 'Why Women Read Fiction', examines just how precious fiction is. Women enjoy reading fiction on their own as well as sharing the experience. They are the main buyers of fiction, members of book clubs and attendees at literary festivals. Why? Come and find out!

Hashi Mohamed's book, 'People Like Us', is a powerful and often heart-breaking memoir which reveals how rarely individuals are able to cross the great divide. The chances that a nine year old Somali refugee from Kenya, who arrived in Britain without his mother and was brought up in poverty and deprivation, would end up becoming a successful barrister and writing a book like this are extremely remote. The main lesson of his life is that where the system fails to provide a leg up, individuals can make all the difference. This story is about the encouragement and support of these individuals: teachers, role-models, relatives and mentors. This event is sold out at Cedars Hall, but can still be live-streamed.

Rachel Clarke's book, 'Dear Life', is a love letter to a father, a profession and to life itself. A specialist in palliative care, Dr Rachel Clarke inhabits a world most people flinch from. Her expertise was put to the test when her beloved father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She learned that nothing sugar-coats the pain, but also that imminent death inspires new courage which can even make one's last days a positive experience. Love, strength, tenderness, joy and compassion are all present in far greater quantities than one could imagine in a hospice.

Rachel Johnson will be in conversation with Julia Salmon discussing her book 'Rake's Progress'. This indiscreet, witty and brutally honest memoir charts her disastrous quest to become a MEP and her move from journalism into the political world inhabited by most of her beloved family. Rachel has an unrivalled insight into the world of politics, both from a winning and a losing point of view. Her memoir is entertaining, revelatory, beautifully written and laugh-out-loud funny. It is no surprise that it is another sell out at Cedars Hall. However, you will still be able to join in by live-streaming