Cheltenham Literature Festival 2013 line-up announced

Renee Zellweger starred in the first two Bridget Jones film adaptations

Author Helen Fielding is to appear at the Cheltenham Literature Festival to talk about her awaited third Bridget Jones book, it has been announced.

The book, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, is due for release in October, the same month as the famous festival.

Musician Ray Davies, ex-home secretary Alan Johnson and designer Cath Kidston are also on the guest list.

Every year the festival attracts some of the biggest names from the world of culture, politics and sport.

Now in its 64th year, the 10-day literary festival will be led by guest directors A S Byatt, a Man Booker Prize winner, as well as the former home secretary Mr Johnson and the critic Agnès C Poirier.

Other names appearing will include Jennifer Saunders, Jack Whitehall, Ian Rankin, Mary Berry, Jeremy Paxman, Kate Adie, John Bishop and Brian May.

World snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan will also take to the stage to talk about the troubled times he has faced and his continued love of the sport.

The central theme of this year's event is memory and its shaping of us individually and as a society.

It will run, with events spread across Cheltenham town centre, from 4-12 October.

More than 126,000 tickets - a record number - were sold for last year's festival which featured JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Sir Roger Moore.