Exclusively for Mail readers on Sunday: Meet top British authors on your Danube cruise

Imagine mingling with some of your favorite authors while enjoying wonderful food and drinks and beautiful scenery!

Now is the time to set sail with the UK’s most popular literary festival, which is sure to be an unmissable experience with the cream of British writing talent.

The Henley Literary Festival with lectures, interviews and much more by numerous top writers takes place on board an Emerald Waterways Star-Ship during an eight-day journey along the mighty Danube.

River View: A stylish Emerald Waterways Star Ship Suite with a balcony

YOUR SPECIAL GUESTS

You will be accompanied by Jeremy Paxman

Award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster JEREMY PAXMANOn the far right, he was the BBC’s Newsnight anchor for 25 years and has hosted the University Challenge since 1994. His insightful treatise A Life In Questions is one of his books.

LOUIS DE BERNIERES The most famous work is Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which won the 1994 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best novel. It was later turned into a major Hollywood film starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

You will also be accompanied by Joanna Trollope

JOANNA TROLLOPE is the author of 17 critically acclaimed bestselling novels including A Village Affair, The Choir and The Rector’s Wife. Trollope has written a number of historical novels, many of them under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.

LADY JENNI MURRAY has presented Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for more than 30 years and is the author of a number of popular books, including A History Of Britain In 21 Women.

The river is one of the largest in Europe and flows through ten countries and four capital cities – Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Belgrade.

This unique travel route in October begins in Passau, an ancient city on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany.

Your stylish starship also stops in Linz, the cities of Melk and Dürnstein in Austria’s beautiful Wachau Valley, Bratislava and Vienna before it ends in the breathtaking Hungarian capital Budapest.

With an incredible selection of best-selling authors including Joanna Trollope, Louis de Bernieres, Jeremy Paxman and Dame Jenni Murray (more to be confirmed in the coming weeks), this promises to be an epic journey through central Europe that book lovers won’t want to miss.

For added security, Emerald Waterways offers a free deposit protection plan and flexible booking policy that allows you to postpone your travel plans and transfer them to an alternative departure date or itinerary up to 60 days before departure.

REASONS TO BOOK

An incredible line-up: Meet some of your favorite personalities from the world of books, handpicked by the Henley Literary Festival, one of the UK’s most popular festivals of its kind.

You will participate in exclusive question-and-answer sessions on board – and other notable speakers will be announced.

Discover the Danube: You will sail through breathtaking landscapes and visit two of the largest capitals in Europe – Vienna, famous for art and culture, and Budapest, Hungary’s capital.

Your luxurious starship: The Emerald Waterways fleet offers spacious and stylishly designed cabins and suites, a heated indoor pool with retractable roof, a fitness center, a large open-air sundeck with putting green and an evening cinema.

Flexible booking guidelines: Emerald Waterways’ deposit protection plan and flexible booking policies allow guests to change their travel dates or itineraries for free up to 60 days prior to departure.