Stratford Literary Festival

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Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford Literary Festival

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Four days in spring and autumn packed with celebrity guests, bestselling authors, workshops and family fun

Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival takes place in spring each year and features a variety of events including celebrity authors and personalities, panel discussions, writing workshops, guidance on getting published and discussions on politics and current affairs. The Festival takes authors into schools, and has a Children's Book day featuring authors, illustrators and workshops. The festival also runs projects based in the community, working especially with the elderly.

05/11/2026

Our Autumn Festival isn’t quite finished yet 🍂

We have an extra one-off special event coming up this month. Si King, one half of the much-loved Hairy Bikers, is joining us at Rother Street Arts House to talk about his first solo book, Proper Home Cooking.

Expect honest, unfussy dishes built for real life, real budgets and real families, along with stories from the Hairy Bikers’ travels, life with and without his biking partner Dave Myers, and why he’s become such a champion for men speaking openly about their physical and mental health.

📅 Thursday 26th November, 7pm
📍 Rother Street Arts House

Tickets are on sale now: https://www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/events/si-king 🔗

01/11/2026

And that’s a wrap on the final day of the Autumn Festival 2026! 📚🍂

We started the morning with a very noisy and excited audience for Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad🍩. Then this afternoon brought the reveal of our One and Only novel. And this evening, we were so lucky to have John Boyne, Bonnie Garmus, Greg Wise and the English Musical Theatre Orchestra with us 🎶.

Thank you to everyone who spent their Sunday and the final day of the festival with us - it’s been a fantastic four days 🤩

01/11/2026

Tonight acclaimed actor and author Greg Wise kindly joined us and gave a very moving talk about his new book ‘Grief Talking’.

He discussed many types of loss and how it can shape us and how he thinks we should reconsider our modern suppressive culture of mourning in favour of something kinder and more open.

Thank you so much Greg for joining us 😌

01/11/2026

Today we were joined by the Queen of Shops, Mary Portas to give us her lessons and stories of a life working in fashion 👜

Thank you Mary for taking us on a journey back down the 80’s and 90’s high street and for giving us your thoughts on what its future looks like 👛

01/11/2026

This post is dedicated to the people that make our festival possible. We are nothing without the individuals behind the scenes who help us organise, and who tirelessly give their time to volunteer throughout the festival 🥰

Thank you to all of you for your hard work and dedication to helping us put on the festival 🧡

Here’s just a few members of our wonderful team!

01/11/2026

Last night we had a fantastic hour with Lucy Porter talking about how Middle Aged Women Get S*** Done 💁‍♀️💅

The stand-up comedian and Radio 4 regular set out her call to arms for women to put down the to-do lists and let someone else take it all on for a bit! 👊

Thank you Lucy for giving us all a laugh and reminding women that we are invincible 💕

01/11/2026

What a brilliant morning we had with Neill Cameron talking and drawing all things Donut Squad 🍩

And our audience must’ve loved the session as much as we did, as the queue to meet Neill afterwards was ginormous 🤩

Thank you Neill for joining us, and we hope there are many happy comic drawers in Stratford today 🎨✍🏼

01/11/2026

What an absolute pleasure it was to have join us once again last night 🌟

Being interviewed by his wife certainly gave the talk a different dynamic to what we’re used to and it was hilariously entertaining! 🤭

The book signing queue lasted nearly two hours and a couple of our attendees flew all the way from Slovakia just to join us to see Greg! 🇸🇰 Now that’s dedication.

Thanks so much Greg and Bella for our Saturday evening of laughter!

01/11/2026

It’s the final day of our Autumn Festival, and we’re finishing in style 🍂

Hear bestseller Nick Harkaway on his new George Smiley adventure The Taper Man, Rob Wilkins on The Discworld Bestiary, Iain Dale, Stephen Sackur, Mary Portas, John Boyne, Bonnie Garmus and Greg Wise, plus Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad for a final half-term treat. We close tonight with the English Musical Theatre Orchestra celebrating the great Stephen Sondheim.

Last chance to join us, and tickets are still available using the link in our bio or our Festival Box Office 🔗

Address

Stratford-Upon-Avon
CV37

Website

http://www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/

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