U2 singer Bono has been invited to speak at next year’s Hay Festival.
He would be following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, Van Morrison, Bob Geldof and James Dean Bradfield, all of whom have appeared at the literary event in recent years, alongside authors such as John Updike, Maya Angelou, Ian McEwan, Harold Pinter and Salman Rushdie.
Bono is expected to lecture on the issues of Aids, African debt and Third World aid.
Speaking to BBC News, festival director Peter Florence said: "He’s been invited and we are waiting to hear whether he can come."
He added: "What’s interesting about it is Bono’s political influence. He is one of the few people who has brought positive changes out of Bush.
"He has extraordinary political credibility. People like him and Michael Moore are not in the system, but operate outside it."
The Festival, which takes place for ten days between May and June, will celebrate it’s 18th year in 2005. It was previously described by former US President Bill Clinton as the "Woodstock of the mind."
Meanwhile, Bono was interviewed on last night’s Fox News, in which he reminded the US Administration about the effects of AIDS in Africa.
The interview with Bill O’Reilly was timed to coincide with the Republican Party Convention being held at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
When asked by O’Reilly why Americans would want to help Africans who did not practice safe sex, the singer replied: "If you see a car crash, somebody’s lying there in the middle of the road bleeding and it turns out they’re a drunk driver, you’re still going to call an ambulance."
Bono had previously attended the Democratic National Convention in July to raise awareness for the organisation DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa).
- DotMusic
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