A SUSSEX writer will be collaborating with the likes of Jay-Z and Adele for a book celebrating the “greatest festival in the world”.

Journalist Thomas H Green will contribute a chapter to an homage to half a century of Glastonbury Festival with such stars as Dolly Parton, Chris Martin, and Noel Gallagher providing insights into the event.

Mr Green, who is also a senior lecturer at the University of Chichester, also speaks about his own experiences covering the event for the past 30 years.

He said: “Glastonbury is always a highlight of my year.

“Some of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen have taken place there – The Stooges, Plastikman, Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones, LCD Soundsystem, Leonard Cohen and more.

“But it is as much the vast array of experience available that appeals.

“Glastonbury is, to utilise Hakim Bey’s famous aphorism, a Temporary Autonomous Zone, a place of intensity, of action and understanding, even of personal growth, but also a palace of pleasure, the best party on Earth.

“It has changed hugely since it began, even since I started going, yet in some essential way, it has also remained the same.”

Mr Green expressed his excitement at being a part of the book, which will be released later this month, as a result of his personal ties to the festival.

He said: “In 2020 Glastonbury will be 50 years old.

“It is a great privilege to be asked to contribute a chapter to a book celebrating this fact, alongside the likes of Adele, Caitlin Moran, Jay-Z, Lauren Laverne, Dolly Parton, Billy Bragg and others, including, of course, Michael and Emily Eavis, the father-daughter team behind the festival.”

The book, called Glastonbury 50, begins in 1970 – the day after the death of Jimi Hendrix.

Dairy farmer Michael Eavis invited revellers to visit his field in Somerset for a party to remember.

Flocking to the promise of music, dance, poetry and free, fresh milk from his cows, more than 1,000 people travelled to the South West for the inaugural Glastonbury Festival.

Five decades later the event has grown to become the biggest greenfield festival.

It welcomes more than 200,000 people each summer and its stages have hosted some of the biggest names in music including David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, U2, The Smiths and Paul McCartney.

This summer 203,500 people made the pilgrimage to Worthy Farm in Somerset and were treated to acts including The Killers, Liam Gallagher, Carrie Underwood and The Proclaimers.

Mr Green said: “Glastonbury is the greatest festival in the world and one of the few places where remnants of late 20th century counterculture can be found, thriving intact for a few brief days in June.

“My reports are not just from the obvious frontline of the Pyramid and main stages – the stuff you see on television – but also the backwaters where one can find everything from gong therapy to Greenpeace to tiny teepees blasting dubstep at intense volume.

“These fringe areas are often where the true spirit of Glastonbury resides.”

Mr Green has been a journalist for more than 20 years specialising in covering popular music for the Daily Telegraph, Mixmag and The Art Desk.

Glastonbury 50 is principally written by Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily, who share their own stories from 50 years of running the event.

It promises to bring readers “the magic that makes Glastonbury, Glastonbury”.