Not only does the UK boast some of the best literary voices in the world, it also has a calendar of book festivals and events any bibliophile would be excited for. Here, we've rounded up some of the best British annual literary festivals you should know about.
Best literary festivals to visit in 2023
The Bath Festival
12-21 May 2023
The Bath Festival celebrates the very best of the UK's literature and music scene, welcoming authors, artists and thinkers to the southwest city for a week every year. Events take place in Bath Abbey, the Assembly Rooms and the former Art Deco cinema The Forum, as well as local bookshops such as Mr B's Emporium and Persephone books. The 2023 line-up includes Joanne Harris, Manni and Reuben Coe (Brother, do you love me?), menopause author Dr Louise Newson and Jeremy Bowen.
The Bath Children's Literature Festival takes place later in the year, with the 2023 edition due to take over the city from Friday 29 September to Sunday 8 October.
Find out more on the Bath Festival website.
Hay Festival
26 May-4 June 2023
The small town of Hay-on-Wye has been known as 'The Town of Books' since the 1970s, with the Hay Festival founded in 1988 by book lover Peter Florence and his group of friends. Although it's now moved from the town's little bookshops and church halls to a larger dedicated festival site, the town still retains the atmosphere of the original – particularly in the evenings, when the pubs and cafes fill with literature fans and authors – including some of the biggest names in the industry. This year, you can catch Julia Donaldson, Richard E Grant, Rukmini Iyers (The Roasting Tin), Michael Rosen, Helena Bonham-Carter, Cressida Cowell, Ranulph and Jake Fiennes, with evening highlights including The Levellers Collective, N’famady Kouyaté and Dara O'Briain.
Selected events from each year's festival are streamed on the Hay Player, with Online Festival Passes also available. Plus, students get 25% off all tickets!
Find out more on the Hay Festival website.
Essex Book Festival
1 June - 1 July 2022
For the month of June, this book festival takes over the county of Essex, with over a hundred events in venues including Harwich Electric Palace Cinema, Tudor Palace Layer, Marney Tower and Toleston Housing Gardens. As well as events with authors, the festival includes events for local authors and aspiring writers, talks for kids and writing workshops.
In 2023, look out for Abi Daré, Sarah Hardy, Robin Ince, James Naughtie, Mat Osman (from the band Suede), Andrew Simms and Polly Toynbee.
Find out more on the Essex Book Festival website.
Bradford Literature Festival
22 June – 2 July
Now in its nineth year running, Bradford Literature Festival hosts hundreds of unique events for all ages across ten days in Yorkshire, arguably one of the heartlands of classic English drama. Flagship events include Poetry with a Punch, and the ever-popular Brontë Day and Family Fun Days in City Park, as well as several new themes and topics. And this year, you can see Lenny Henry, Anita Rani, Michael Palin, Jonathon Stroud and Ben Aaronovitch.
Find out more at the Bradford Literature Festival website.
Edinburgh International Book Festival
12-28 August 2023
One of the UK's longest-running literary festivals, the Edinburgh Book Festival has been running since 1983. It now runs more than 900 events every August and since the pandemic has extended its hybrid live-digital offerings. It will continue to be hosted at the Edinburgh College of Art until 2024, at which point it will move to the Edinburgh Futures Institute. The festival also heads out on the road around Scotland, with author events put on in Scottish prisons, hospitals and arts centres.
The full programme for this year will be announced on 14 June 2023, however last year's included Ali Smith, Martha Wainwright, Simon Jenkins, Howard Jacobson and Nicola Sturgeon.
Find out more on the Edinburgh Book Festival website.
Queen's Park Book Festival
2-3 September 2023
The Queen's Park area of London has become a bit of a hotspot for book lovers, ever since the highly popular independent bookshop Queen's Park Books opened in 2004. The area's eponymous 30-acre park now plays host to the only London book festival held solely in a public park. Previous authors to have attended the festival include Zadie Smith, Tessa Hadley, Richard Coles, Bernardine Evaristo and Elif Shafak. Plus, the Queen's Park Community Tent has helped champion local authors and under-represented groups from the community throughout each iteration of the festival.
Find out more on the Queen's Park Book Festival website.
Henley Literary Festival
30 September - 8 October 2023
Since launching in 2007, Henley has fast become one of the UK's biggest literature festivals, hosting more than 130 events in 2022, with guests including Olivia Harrison, Melvyn Bragg, Lucy Worsley, Chris Patten, Mel C and Paterson Joseph. The Henley Children's Festival runs alongside the main literary festival programme, which includes events for children and a special programme for schools.
Find out more on the Henley Literary Festival website.
Cliveden Literary Festival
30 September – 1 October 2023
Set high above the Thames, the magnificent Cliveden House boasts stunning gardens, architectural design and, since 2017, a leading literary festival, attracting some of the UK's leading novelists, historians, journalists and politicians. Helpfully, the festival has uploaded most – if not all – the recordings of its previous events onto YouTube for you to watch.
Find out more on the Cliveden Literary Festival website.
Cheltenham Literature Festival
6-15 October 2023
The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is said to be the oldest literary festival in the world, formed in 1949. If you happen to be on holiday during the the glut of summer literature festivals, you're in luck – Cheltenham's takes place in autumn. It celebrates the best new novels, memoirs, non-fiction, comedy and spoken word, with events held around the town centre and in pop-up tents in Montpellier Gardens. The Gloucestershire town also hosts the Jazz, Music and Science Festivals every year.
Find out more on the Cheltenham Literature Festival website.
London Literature Festival
19-29 October 2023
Held at the Southbank Centre every year, the longest-running literature festival in the capital celebrates the written and spoken word. Previous guests have included former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, author Kate Mosse and comedian Daisy May Cooper.
Find out more on the London Literature Festival website.
