With a comfortable haul of 80 million album sales to her name so far, Annie Lennox has recently turned her voice from pop music to hollering in support of a far nobler cause: that of the global fight against HIV/AIDS. The Aberdeen-born former Eurythmics frontwoman’s SING initiative aims to raise money for the HIV/AIDS organisation Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). She’ll head to Edinburgh to talk about her personal experience of witnessing the devastating effects of the virus first hand in Africa, and the part we can all play in tackling the pandemic.

‘It’s a great honour and privilege to be invited to speak at the Scottish Parliament,’ says Lennox of her Festival of Politics date. ‘I have led a fortunate life, with opportunities to receive education, medical care, employment, income, decent housing, good food, in stark contrast to the vast majority of women having to struggle to survive in conditions of chronic poverty in many parts of the world. I believe that the key to a better future for those living in conditions of poverty and all its “symptoms” is education, especially through the support and empowerment of women,’ she adds. ‘This is something I’ll be touching on in the context of my talk about HIV/AIDS.’

20 Aug, 1pm, £6 (£3.50).