Knighton Festival

27/03/2026

We're currently planning the programme for this year’s Festival which will take place from 16th to 25th October - put the dates in your diary now!

27/02/2026

Knighton Festival is sponsoring a performance by acclaimed harpist Eleri Darkins - Harpist Telynores at the St David's Day Celebration this Sunday The Knighton Community Centre. Should be a good afternoon!

We've donated some money to support this event. Come along and enjoy!😊

22/01/2026

For all those interested in local history, the Knighton Library are hosting a talk on Heists, Hoards and the Crisis of Cultural Security from 1pm on January 31 in the Reynolds Room at The Knighton Community Centre
Free tea and biscuits provided!

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas to all our supporters! Wishing you all the best for 2026

02/12/2025

Showing this Friday at the Knighton Flix at the earlier time of 7pm. Adrien Brody returns to Oscar-winning form as architect László Toth, a Holocaust survivor who arrives in America to start a new life.

17/11/2025

Showing this Friday at Knighton Community Centre, Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan in James Mangold's A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the electric true story behind the rise of one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history.
Doors open 7pm, tickets £6, bar and snacks available

27/10/2025

The winners of the inaugural Knighton Writing Prize have been announced, celebrating creativity, storytelling, and local talent as part of the Knighton Festival.
This year’s Prize Ceremony took place on Friday 10th October at 6pm, bringing together writers, readers, and festival-goers to enjoy an evening of congratulations at Knighton Community Centre/Y Comm.

Congratulations to the three winners:
Adult Poetry: David Shields – The Size of Wales
The judges loved the careful wittiness of this poem, the fun wordplay, and profound final stanza. Additionally, the precise structure, professional formatting and extended, thoughtful metaphor led to a clear winner.
Adult Short Story: Carolyn Kennard – Dad's Last Walk
An emotive and visceral short story, Carolyn’s excellent reading held the room captive at the Prize Ceremony, and her beautiful explanation of her writing journey with this piece brought it all together.
Under 18s Short Story: Nora Baumgartner – The Highly Horrific Life of Molly Davis
The judges loved the unique formatting and funny storytelling– very Tom Gates/Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This young writer has a great future ahead – keep on creating. We expect to see Molly Davis on Knighton Library shelves one day!

The competition was sponsored by the Knighton Library Friends. Each winner received a cash prize, a certificate and had the opportunity to read their work aloud during the ceremony. Our wonderful Poetry Judge, Anna Dreda, introduced and read the Adult Poetry winner. The winning works on the StoriPowys website, Powys’s online cultural hub.

During the festival, a display of winning and runner up entries was displayed in Knighton Community Centre, showcasing the creativity of everyone who took part.
And for those inspired to keep writing, a new Writing Club will soon be launching at Knighton Library. It’ll be a friendly space to share ideas, swap tips, and enjoy writing together. Keep an eye out for details coming soon!
We must lastly take a moment to thank the Prize coordinator and Head Judge, Emily Berry, who read all the poems and stories, and with the help of an amazing panel, whittled them down to our ultimate set of three prize winners.

Emily wrote -
‘A big thank you to everyone who sent in an entry to the Knighton Writing Prize. I’m so pleased you shared your work with us. The range and volume of submissions was surprising, and the quality very high. All entries were judged anonymously & read several times.

I wanted to enable other writers, who like me might be too shy to share their work with people they know, so find sending it to an anonymous panel much easier. I want these writers to know that they are talented & valued, and to realise that they can also be brave and share their work with the world & each other
The purpose of this prize was to celebrate Knighton, and the wonderful community I have become a part of as Knighton Librarian. We were looking for pieces with imagination, flair, originality, technical skills, and strong emotional impact, and I’m so proud of our 3 winners.'

22/10/2025

At the Women’s Hour session on the 28th October at 11am Diana Ashworth, author of Iolo's Revenge and My Dog Can't Read, will be talking about her new book You don't have to be a Genius.

At the dawn of the permissive age Diana is a medical student in swinging London. This is a great read, funny and moving and based on a true story.
This FREE session will be held in the Reynolds Room - we hope to see lots of you there

13/10/2025

Thank you to everyone who came and supported the Knighton Festival this weekend. We had such a great time, meeting lots of lovely visitors, listening to inspirational and entertaining talks from fantastic speakers, watching a thought provoking film and finishing with live theatre.

We had really engaged audiences too, and lots of positive feedback about the programme and the high quality of the speakers. Makes it all worthwhile!

Thanks especially to my fellow members of the Festival committee: Nicola, Martin, Emily and Pat for all their help. And to the wonderful volunteers and staff at The Knighton Community Centre

Great team effort!

11/10/2025

Another brilliant day of entertaining and informative talks at the Knighton Festival!
Pat Herriott started us off with her journalling workshop.
Kathy Biggs shared her experience of researching, writing and then finding a publisher for her warm-hearted tale Attention All Shipping (film options up next!)
Master storyteller and illustrator Peter Stevenson delighted us with Welsh folk stories, beautifully captivated on his crankie.
Karen Bartlett gave us a compelling account of the perils faced by female judges in Afghanistan, and Jo Jukes rounded off the afternoon with a soulful tour of Shropshire hill forts.

Tomorrow we look forward to welcoming best selling novelist Manda Scott at 11.30am, who will be talking about her visionary new thriller, Any Human Power. Lunch will be served in the café between 1pm and 2pm. Then Felicity Spector will be discussing Bread and War, her account of the Ukrainian efforts to keep their food heritage and culture in the face of Russian oppression.

For the Festival finale the Willow Globe Theatre Company will present A Midsummer Night's Dream at 5pm. Bar and café will be open. Hope to see you there

11/10/2025

It's Day 2 of the Knighton Festival and the arts, crafts and books market is open until 4pm. Lots of lovely stalls to browse, cafe is serving bacon baps, cakes, hot drinks. There will be live music from 1pm to 2pm in the café too. We have 4 terrific speakers as well with Kathy Biggs at 10.30 am, followed by Peter Stevenson at 12pm