Culture and politics on stage at Woodstock

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, the crime fiction writer PD James and the acclaimed historian Simon Schama, are to take centre stage at Woodstock Literary Festival this weekend.

The festival, sponsored by The Independent, began yesterday with a talk between the novelist Howard Jacobson and John Walsh, who are both columnists for The Independent. During the next three days, leading figures from the political and cultural world will explore themes ranging from Shakespeare's plays and Jane Austen's letters to the Iraq war.

Today Mr Cameron will have a wide-ranging interview with The Independent's editor-in-chief, Simon Kelner, at the festival amid the 18th-century splendour of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Tomorrow, PD James will be in conversation with the writer Kate Summerscale about how far crime fiction mirrors the grim realities of modern homicide and detection. Summerscale, the author of the bestseller, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which won this year's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction, will talk about the grisly, true story of a murder in 1860 at Road Hill House, where a three-year-old boy was found in an outside privy with his throat slashed, on which her book is based, and reveal her motivations for researching and writing about the murder.

Dame Ann Leslie, the veteran reporter, who has published an autobiography called Killing My Own Snakes, will appear in Woodstock's Church of St Mary Magdalene on the same day to talk about major 20th-century events, many of which she witnessed, including the abortive coup against Mikhail Gorbachev and the day Nelson Mandela emerged from jail. She will also reveal details of her friendships with the actor Steve McQueen and the artist Salvador Dali, as well as the moment she was propositioned by the charming actor, David Niven.

On Sunday, the journalist-turned-politician, Martin Bell, will analyse the political decisions taken by the Government that led Britain into war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will discuss the scandals that he believes damaged the nation's trust of people in public life in his debate, entitled The Truth that Sticks: New Labour's Breach of Trust.

The Independent's award-winning foreign correspondent, Robert Fisk, will also appear at the podium in the afternoon, with the writer and broadcaster, Ziauddin Sardar, and Lawrence Freedman, author and professor of war studies at King's College, London, to discuss the challenges for America, particularly in relation to the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ahead of the presidential election in the US. Professor Schama will talk about his latest book, The American Future: A History, which coincides with his new four-part television series.

A presentation by writer Godfrey Howard, and Lucinka Eisler, artistic director of Stamping Ground Theatre, will bring to life the letters of Jane Austen, on Sunday morning. Eisler will read aloud from the rarely heard epistles and discuss the lesser-known aspects of Austen's character. In the afternoon, actor Ben Crystal will recapture the mastery of the Bard's language and characterisation.

The festival closes with three of the participants in Maestro, the BBC2 reality show in which celebrities fought for the chance to conduct a live orchestra. Alex James, bassist in the band, Blur, his mentor, conductor Brad Cohen, and tenor Alfie Boe will reveal how it felt to be part of the project.

Woodstock: How to book

The Festival box office can be found outside the Orangery at Blenheim Palace today from 9.30am to 4.30pm and on Sunday 12 October from 10am to 4.30pm.

Tomorrow, the Festival box office will be located at Woodstock Town Hall from 10am to 7.30pm.

Box Office: 07884 060334 and 07788 997114