First speakers announced for Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival 2024

The Gibraltar Tourist Board has announced the first authors set for this year's Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival.

The authors are Sir Graham Brady, Asad Qureshi, Deb Bunt and Peter Berry.

The Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival will take place from November 11 to 17, 2024.

The Minister for Culture and Tourism, Christian Santos said he was “delighted to announce the first of an exciting line up of authors for the 2024 edition of the Gibunco Gibraltar Literary Festival.”

“The diversity of these authors’ incredible life experiences is just a taste of the strong line-up to come,” Mr Santos said.

Sir Graham Brady

Sir Graham Brady will discuss his new book ‘Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers’.

He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Altrincham and Sale West 1997-2024, and was Chairman of the 1922 Committee for 14 years - spanning coalition government, Brexit and five Conservative Prime Ministers. At Sir Graham’s election to Parliament in 1997 aged just 29, he was the youngest Conservative MP in the House, and he has dutifully served his constituency for over 25 years. He served as a whip before holding positions on the Shadow Cabinet under three Conservative leaders while in opposition, including Shadow Minister for Schools and Shadow Europe Minister, stepping down from the frontbench in 2007.

In 2010 he was elected Chairman of the 1922 Committee, the Parliamentary Group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, representing the interests of backbench Conservative MPs. He has continued in that position unchallenged since – making him the longest serving Chairman of the 1922 Committee to date. In that time, he has presided over the four changes of Conservative Leader – and thus Prime Minister – and been a key player in one of the most turbulent political periods in British history.

Born in Salford in 1967, Sir Graham studied law at Durham university where he served as Chair of the Durham University Conservative Association. Knighted for political and public service in 2018, Sir Graham was appointed a Privy Counsellor in October 2023. A former Governor of Manchester Metropolitan University, he is patron of the Counselling and Family Centre in Altrincham and a trustee of the Sutton Trust and the Jubilee Centre in Bowdown. He is a keen supporter of Stockdales, a Manchester-based charity supporting children and adults with learning disabilities.

Sir Graham was made a life peer in the Dissolution honours list in 2024. He is married with two grown-up children.

Asad Qureshi

British documentary filmmaker Asad Qureshi will participate in a Q&A style presentation on his experience as a Taliban hostage, detailed in his book, 165 Days-Prisoner of the Taliban.

Asad Qureshi’s chance meeting with Oscar winning film director John Schlesinger while he was directing Yanks in the Bradford area led to his introduction into the film industry. Since then he has learnt to set himself apart from the normal run of the mill genre in film making by selecting assignments to focus on that have undertones of danger and are a challenge.

Difficult geographical terrains and complexity of subjects have always fascinated him and drew him to such projects. Over time, he has become known as someone who is totally dedicated and uncompromising on his quest to uncover and tell the truth.

He has straddled different cultures and continents in his search for the truth; he worked with the A tier cast and crews from the US with large budgets to almost one man bands do-everything himself documentaries on shoe-string budgets.

As for the last disastrous campaign, he travelled to the heart of the Taliban territory to film a peace-making initiative between the Taliban, Pakistan and the Western Allies.

The trip under-taken by Mr Qureshi and his three colleagues, Khalid Khawaja, Col Imam and Rustam Khan went horribly off script as they were betrayed and all four ended up being captives of the Taliban.

Demands for ransom, release of Taliban prisoners followed. Just over a month into their captivity Mr Qureshi’s dear friend and guide Khalid Khawaja was executed. After 165 days of captivity Asad and his assistant were released sadly six months later Col Imam was executed. Asad continues to make films and holds the memory of Khalid Khawaja and Col Imam dear to his heart.

Deb Bunt and Peter Berry

Mr Berry and Ms Bunt will talk about living well with a dementia diagnosis. Their talk will cover overcoming adversity, realising ambitions and the power of friendship. Although their book ‘Slow Puncture, Living well with Dementia’ was published four years ago and Mr Berry's condition has changed, the themes in the book remain relevant.

Six years ago, a rather disillusioned Ms Bunt took early retirement from her job at the Youth Offending Service in London and moved to Suffolk with her husband. This is where she met Mr Berry and the two became friends and cycling partners. Ms Bunt had two ambitions in life: one - for Arsenal to win the champions league and two -to become a published writer. Meeting Mr Berry has enabled the fulfilment of one of these ambitions. The friendship with Peter has also enabled Ms Bunt to look at life through a different lens and to appreciate the ‘here and now.’ In the six years since her move to Suffolk, Ms Bunt has acquired one broken shoulder, had two books published, accrued four grandchildren and made an extremely great and life changing friend in Mr Berry. And Arsenal still haven’t won the champions league.

Suffolk-born Mr Berry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when he was 50 and given a life expectancy of eight to 10 years. Now 60, Mr Berry continues to live well and to embrace life with positivity. Previously the owner of a thriving timber business, Peter was forced to give up work shortly after his diagnosis.

Following a period of deep depression, which included two suicide attempts, Mr Berry determined that he would live well with this life-changing condition.

He now fills his days by cycling and giving presentations and talks about living well with dementia.

Mr Berry has raised thousands of pounds for dementia charities through his cycling challenges - including a 300 mile challenge on his penny farthing and it was this challenge which prompted Ms Bunt to write the book ‘Slow Puncture’. Mr Berry’s most recent challenge was to cycle 100 miles in one day on his penny farthing, a feat which he completed with aplomb and cramp.

Mr Berry is married to Teresa, and they have one daughter.

The book was one of 20 UK-wide chosen by The Reading Agency to be available in every library authority in England and Wales and has now been translated into Welsh. To celebrate the book’s inclusion onto the Reading Well for Dementia list, Mr Berry and Ms Bunt recently were invited to the House of Commons to talk about Slow Puncture. Their story is a journey that continues.