Geoff Travis, Jeannette Lee, Elizabeth Alker and Babak Ganjei lead End of the Road literature lineup

This year the lineup – which runs on the festival’s Talking Heads stage alongside the comedy programme – leans heavily into music history, counterculture investigation and personal essay. Travis and Lee, two of the most influential figures in British independent music, will appear together for a conversation offering a rare insight into decades of boundary-pushing artistry and underground culture heading up Rough Trade records.

Author Ian Leslie will discuss John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs, a study of the creative and emotional bond between Lennon and McCartney that's been praised as a new benchmark in Beatles writing. BBC Radio 3 presenter Elizabeth Alker will present Everything We Do Is Music, tracing connections between experimental composers and modern pop and electronic sounds.

Tom O’Neill will talk about Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties which has become a cult reference point since publication, arguing for a radically different interpretation of the Tate-LaBianca murders and their intelligence-agency connections.

Elsewhere, Guardian journalist Lanre Bakare presents We Were There, an account of how Black culture, resistance and community shaped modern Britain. Writer Alice Vincent reflects on sound, motherhood and modern listening in Hark: How Women Listen, while artist, musician and writer Babak Ganjei – a beloved fixture of the London music scene –discusses his debut novel On the Bus Without a Phone.

Lori Inglis Hall brings The Shock of the Light, a wartime Europe story of love, secrecy and survival, and critic Nadia Beard completes the lineup with The Melody of Things, an exploration of rediscovering lost creative passions.

The 20th edition’s music bill includes Earl Sweatshirt & Mike, Super Furry Animals, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Lucinda Williams, Ty Segall, Fat Dog, caroline, YHWH Nailgun, Just Mustard and james K, with a Secret Headliner still to be revealed.