Don't Let My Past be Your Future by Harry Leslie Smith

EDIT: THE EVENT DAY HAS BEEN MOVED TO 26 OCTOBER

The Belfast Book Festival is delighted to welcome back to Belfast, Harry Leslie Smith for a special Fringe Event.

A survivor of the Great Depression, a WWII RAF veteran, an activist for the poor, a staunch opponent of austerity and a passionate defender of the NHS, this year, at the age of 94, Harry publishes his latest book Don't Let My Past Be Your Future. A searing polemic that shows, with the indisputable force of lived experience, why the past shouldn't stay buried and the future is ours for the taking.

Britain is at its most dangerous juncture since Harry's youth - the NHS and social housing are in crisis, whilst Brexit and an unpopular government continue to divide the country - but there is hope.

Just as Clement Attlee provided hope in 1945, Labour's triumphant comeback of June 2017 is a beacon of light in this season of discontent. Britain has overcome adversity before and will do so again - a new nation will be forged from the ashes of grave injustice.

Moving and passionate, Don't Let My Past be Your Future interweaves memoir and polemic in a call to arms. Above all, this book is homage to the boundless grace and resilience of the human spirit.

In 2016 Harry Leslie Smith's appearance at the Belfast Book Festival was as unassuming as it was poignant and affecting. An accomplished, determined and inspiring speaker, we are thrilled that Harry is returning to the city. He will be joined in conversation with by BBC Radio Ulster's Seamus McKee.

'Harry Leslie Smith is a vital and powerful voice speaking across generations about the struggle for a just society' Jeremy Corbyn.

A Call to Arms for the Many, Not the Few; DON'T LET THE PAST BECOME OUR FUTURE.