Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former US President Bill Clinton, is among the star names appearing at this year’s Hay Festival.

Her father appeared at the 2001 festival which he termed the "Woodstock of the Mind".

Other speakers at this year’s festival include US journalist Michael Wolff, whose expose of Donald Trump’s White House, Fire and Fury, contained a number of explosive and controversial revelations that fired it to the top of the best sellers list earlier this year, and actress Rose McGowan.

She has been at the centre of allegations about Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein that have sparked the ’Me Too’ campaign against sexual harassment.

Festival boss Peter Florence said global politics will be a key part of this year’s festival, that takes place in Hay-on-Wye, from May 24 to June, 3.

He said: "We are facing alarming insecurities and crises. We need to approach the complexity of those challenges with all the hope and courage we can muster. We need to hear the wisest voices, not the loudest. And we need the gift that novelists and poets give, the ability to imagine the world from someone else’s point of view. "There has never been a time when we were in such urgent need of empathy. It’s a time for serious thought and serious work, and so too, it’s a time to laugh and a time to dance and a time to feast. Let’s do it together."

This year is the 31st edition of the festival at Hay-on-Wye and will feature 600 speakers at 800 events, including stand-up comedy and music concerts.

The festival site is free to enter, with ticketed events in 10 tented venues, plus a range of sites to explore, including the Festival Bookshop; the HAYDAYS courtyard; the Hay Festival Wild Garden; creative workshops in the Make and Take Tent, the Scribblers Hut, The Cube and the Mess Tent; and market stalls, cafes and restaurants.