Window on the world

It's here, it's started! My brain is buzzing, my heart is full. Can you tell I'm excited? The Henley Literary Festival kicked off this week with a host of writers, performers and literary stalwarts. The festival and I go way back. Ten years ago, when it first opened its doors, it took my hand and said, Stop pining for London - look what Henley has to offer! We've been friends ever since.

Comedian Ben Miller asks: 'Is there life beyond earth?'

For one week in the year, I cram my head with knowledge. It's like I'm making up for lost time - and perhaps I am. My biggest regret from my university years was not attending enough lectures. At the time, bed seemed a more inviting prospect first thing in the morning. In my callow youth I took 'learning' for granted. Now, entrenched in the humdrum world of work and parenthood, I can't get enough of it.

Friends often say to me, "Gosh isn't your festival coming up soon?" (Such is my passion for books and literary stuff.) But as I sat this week through sessions on reading navigational signs in nature, Henry VIII's toilet habits and scientific chat about aliens out in space, I realised that this festival goes beyond the book-lover's domain. There is something for everyone and quite honestly you don't have to go near a book if you don't want to. Just sit, listen and soak it all up...

For me, it's also an opportunity to address questions to the authors involved - either creators of fiction or experts in their field. How often do you get to ask a bestselling author about her craft? Or find out why someone wanted to run a 1940s marriage bureau? Or enquire about the properties of green sea-water? It's like being invited to a fascinating dinner party.

In an age where we are constantly time-pressed, where we are bombarded with tweets and YouTube clips, it is such a pleasure to sit for an hour and listen to someone talking about their life's work. For one week, through the prism of publishing, Henley opens a window on the world. The view is fabulous - go take a look!