Historian Clare Mulley talks to Julia Wheeler about the incredible story of the courageous resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka, also known as ‘Elizabeth Watson’ but more often as ‘Zo’ – the only woman to parachute from Britain to Nazi-German occupied Poland during the Second World War and the sole female member of the Polish special forces.

Based on the intimate diaries Will Self’s mother kept for over forty years, Elaine is a writer’s attempt to reach the almost unimaginable realm of a parent’s interior life prior to his own existence. Perhaps the first work of auto-oedipal fiction, Elaine shows Self working in an exciting new dimension, utilizing his stylistic talents to tremendous effect. Scathing and brilliant.

THIS EVENT WILL BE A LIVE LINK-UP WITH WILL SELF AT HIS HOME IN SOUTH LONDON. Pre-signed copies of Elaine will be available at the festival bookstore at the event.

Set against a backdrop of economic recession, rampant hooliganism and suspect fashion, Go To War tells the story of how triumph and tragedy shaped English football during the 1980s. Jon will be talking to host Graham Symon.