Gisèle Pelicot among headliners at this year's Hay Festival

Gisèle Pelicot, who has become a global figurehead of feminism after waving her right to anonymity in a high-profile rape trial in France, is among the headliners at this year's Hay Festival.

She has written a book, Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, about her experiences after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband Dominique and raped by dozens of men he had recruited online.

Other speakers at the event include Malala Yousafzai, Nazanin Zaghari-Rarcliffe, Emma Thompson, Ruth Jones, Ashley Walters and Maggie O'Farrell.

The harrowing details of Pelicot's ordeal shocked the world in 2024, when 46 men were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. Dominique Pelicot was handed the maximum jail sentence of 20 years.

Millions were moved by Gisèle Pelicot's presence at the trial, and she received an outpouring of support in France and beyond.

She said it was time to make "shame swap sides" from the victim to the rapist - a message that resonated with many, including the groups of women that gathered in support outside court every day, carrying signs demanding justice.

Queen Camilla, who invited Pelicot to her official residence in London last month, said the memoir left her "speechless".

She will join figures like Yousafzai, a Pakistani female education activist who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her fight for the right of every child to receive an education. She will discuss her memoir, Finding My Way.

British-Iranian author, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is also set to speak at the festival ahead of the release of her memoir A Yard of Sky co-written by her husband Richard Ratcliffe, which details her six-year imprisonment in Iran.

About 150,000 people visit Hay-on-Wye in Powys for the arts and literature event each spring and this year marks the 39th spring edition of the festival.

This year's event will see more than 500 events over 11 days, from 21 to 31 May.

Sir Stephen Fry, Hay Festival president, described the event as a "carnival of ideas", while former US President Bill Clinton once called it the "Woodstock of the mind".