Henley Literary Festival

Nigella Lawson and Julia Donaldson announced for our 20th edition

Henley Literary Festival — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:11:38 +0000

A pair of the country’s best-loved – and internationally bestselling – writers are the first names announced for this autumn’s Henley Literary Festival.

Supported for the second year running by Fane Group, we celebrate our landmark 20th edition from October 2-11 at venues across Henley-on-Thames.

We are thrilled to announce Great British Bake Off judge Nigella Lawson will make her Henley debut on the opening night of Friday October 2, while Julia Donaldson, the UK’s bestselling author of all time, returns for the first time since the inaugural 2007 Festival on the final day, Sunday October 11.

With some 140 conversations, performances, workshops and talks for adults and children over the 10 days, many more speakers will be announced in the coming months.

Nigella, the multi-award-winning author of 12 international bestsellers including How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food and Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories will reflect on her career to date at the Fane Marquee at Phyllis Court.

The Festival’s flagship venue will also host Stick Man and Room on the Broom creator Julia Donaldson with the long-awaited third Gruffalo book Granny Gruffalo.

We are delighted to also be returning to Henley Town Hall and luxury boutique hotel The Relais Henley, with Shiplake College returning as the children’s sponsor.

Tickets will go on sale to Gold and Platinum Friends on July 3, Friends on July 7 and general sale on July 13.

Highlights from Henley Literary Festival 2025

Henley Literary Festival — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 11:38:29 +0000

This year’s Henley Literary Festival reached our biggest audience ever with over 25,200 tickets to the public events sold, and 2,674 school children in person and over 18,000 people watched from around the world online including schools and care homes.

Watch our 2025 highlights video below.

A look back at 2025…and ahead to 2026

Henley Literary Festival — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 14:44:52 +0000

This year’s Henley Literary Festival reached our biggest audience ever with over 25,200 tickets to the public events sold, 2,674 school children in person and over 18,000 people watched from around the world online including in schools and care homes.

Highlights from The Fane Stage at the Henley Literary Festival Marquee

Our flagship marquee attracted a record 16,000 ticket-holders to Phyllis Court – with another 18,000 streaming live from around the country and beyond! Capacity crowds relished seeing national treasures Joanna Lumley, Michael Palin, Mary Berry, David Suchet and Graham Norton as well as international bestsellers Jung Chang, Mick Herron, Mary Beard and Elif Shafak.
Over 10 days the Fane Stage also hosted the Poet Laureate, three Children’s Laureates, the Archbishop of York, a Michelin chef, England’s most-capped men’s rugby player – and the Downton double bill of Hugh Bonneville and the Countess of Carnarvon!

Highlights from the Gower Cottage Brownies Stage at the Town Hall

From hundreds of audience ‘I love yous’ at the urging of poet Salena Godden to a spontaneous standing ovation for Post Office Scandal campaigner Jo Hamilton, Henley Town Hall enjoyed its busiest, buzziest week of the year.
Some 7,000 ticket-holders visited for events featuring children’s authors, columnists, crime writers, food critics, football managers, historians, Laithwaites Wine School, award-winning novelists, and sitcom stars from Blackadder, Gavin & Stacey and The Young Ones!

Highlights from The Relais Henley

Our hotel partner achieved its highest footfall and cafe sales ever as thousands of ticket-holders packed out the stunning Salon for, among many others: a world exclusive glimpse into the next phase of the James Bond universe; a Busby & Fox fashion show; a Mr Men singalong; leading experts on ADHD, the SAS and the UN; an interactive murder mystery; and two events where authors were joined by their dogs on stage!

Pop-ups and beyond into 2026...

Throughout the year, our pop-up series included the welcome return of the much-loved River Readings events, the inaugural Henley Literary Festival Supper Club in partnership with Laithwaites Wine, a cosy winter double sell-out event at The Bottle & Glass Inn featuring Jojo Moyes and Pollyanna Wilkinson. Meanwhile, the Christ Church Centre hosted amazing crowds for Matt Haig, Tom Kerridge and David Walliams, before ending the year with an incredible finale from Marina Wheeler, Rick Stein and John Cleese.

2026 brings with it a very special anniversary for the festival, and we can’t wait to announce our first pop-ups shortly.

More names for 2025 line-up

Sarah Haynes — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 08:38:20 +0000

This year’s Festival will be the biggest yet as it stretches to 10 days for the first time in our 19-year history, with a starry double bill on night one followed by exciting names from fiction, food, football and more.

Dame Joanna Lumley will open proceedings on Friday October 3 sharing some of her favourite writing, followed by How to Fail podcaster and Magpie bestseller Elizabeth Day discussing her highly anticipated neew book One of Us.

Speakers we’re delighted to be joined by for this autumn’s Festival, supported by Fane Group, include world-renowned chef Raymond Blanc, Nottingham Forest European Cup winning footballer turned Celtic manager Martin O’Neill, poets Hollie McNish and Salena Godden, QI star Alan Davies and Booker-winner Sir Ben Okri. Henley favourite Gyles Brandreth will reveal the stories behind Winnie-the-Pooh, while Lucy Easthope – the UK’s leading disaster recovery expert and a Desert Island Discs castaway this month – will share how to cope in a crisis.

Children’s authors coming include Sir Michael Morpurgo reimagining Shakespeare, JoJo & Gran Gran creator Laura Henry-Allain with a story session for young ones and an interactive event with Pointless host Alexander Armstrong around his No.1 bestseller Evenfall.

They will join previously announced authors including Jung Chang, Jay Rayner, Cressida Cowell, the Archbishop of York and Mary Beard, with many more to be announced before tickets go on sale next month.

Tickets will go on sale to Gold and Platinum Friends on July 4, Friends on July 8 and general sale on July 14.

First names for 2025 line-up

Sarah Haynes — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:32:03 +0000

Supported by Fane Group for the first time this year, we are excited to announce the first few speakers of the 120+ events for adults and children that will take place from October 4-12 at venues across Henley-on-Thames.

Jung Chang, with estimated global sales of 20 million in more than 40 languages, comes to the Festival with Fly, Wild Swans, the long-awaited follow-up to her 1991 memoir Wild Swans, which became Britain’s bestselling non-fiction book. Also appearing at Henley for the first time this October are world-renowned historian Dame Mary Beard, former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, athletics icon Dame Denise Lewis, the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and leading food critic and broadcaster Jay Rayner.

Events for children of all ages and their grown-ups this year will include How to Train Your Dragon creator Cressida Cowell and Jodie Ounsley, England’s first female deaf senior rugby international who now stars as Fury in Gladiators. These weekend events sit alongside the previously announced weekday schools programme featuring Sathnam Sanghera, Dermot O’Leary, Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and more.

Peacebuilding practitioner and Iraq expert Nussaibah Younis, whose debut Fundamentally was last month shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, will join fellow novelists Esther Freud and Emma Gannon in conversation. And Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, currently the acting head of the Church of England, returns to the Festival with a book on the Lord’s Prayer.

Tickets will go on sale to Gold and Platinum Friends on July 4, Friends on July 8 and general sale on July 14.

2025 Schools’ Programme Announced

Sarah Haynes — Thu, 15 May 2025 09:43:22 +0000

Dinosaurs, inventing, the British Empire and rapping are among the subjects children around the country can hear about at Henley Literary Festival’s schools programme this autumn, in-person and online.

The Festival – one of the UK’s most popular book events – returns from 4-12 October, with the line-up of over 100 events for adults and children to be announced in July. The ever-popular schools programme, supported by the Fane Group, takes place each weekday morning (6-10 October) and is now available to book. Schools can either attend in person, with each child receiving a book as part of their ticket, or watch online for free. Last year the latter included schools from Manchester, London and Kent as well as locally.

Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce returns to Henley as year 6 head to Hollywood in his latest novel The Blockbusters! Frank’s appointment to this prestigious position means that the last five Laureates have all spoken at the Festival. Broadcaster turned bestselling children’s author Dermot O’Leary takes his audience back to World War Two as a foxy secret agent and code-breaking chicken save the day in Spy Fox and Agent Feathers.

Sathnam Sanghera, No.1 bestselling author of Empireland and Stolen History, will discuss his engaging and essential look at the British Empire, its epic journeys and the rebels who resisted, from Pocahontas to Gandhi.

Younger children will love making experiments with Izzy the Inventor creator Zanna Davidson, and going on a dino-tastic adventure with children’s television presenter and dinosaur expert Andy Day and his illustrator Steven Lenton. And to start the week off, Monday October 6 sees World Book Day ambassador MC Grammar introduce his brand-new series The Adventures of Rap Kid as he shares the joy of working with words.

Henley Literary Festival director Harriet Reed said: “We’re passionate about having a platform to inspire a love of reading among children and this year’s authors coming for our Schools Programme will do precisely that. Being able to stream for free into schools around the country is something we’ve done for the last few years and are really proud of being able to offer. We continue to try and reach even more pupils across the country – through free streaming and free in-person tickets for children on a pupil premium.”

A look back at Henley Literary Festival 2024

Sarah Haynes — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 12:23:06 +0000

This year’s Henley Literary Festival reached our biggest audience ever with over 24,500 tickets to the public events sold, and 2,344 school children in person and over 10,000 people watched from around the world online including schools and care homes.

Watch our 2024 highlights video below.

Henley Literary Festival 2024 Programme

Sarah Haynes — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 10:53:51 +0000

We’re delighted to share the full programme for the 2024 Henley Literary Festival.

Full 2024 line up revealed

Sarah Haynes — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:55:04 +0000

Bestselling authors and beloved entertainers, sports stars and broadcasters feature alongside local writers and first-time authors as the full programme for this autumn’s Henley Literary Festival is revealed.

The 18^th annual Festival features over 120 conversations, performances, workshops and talks for adults and children from September 28 to October 6, at Henley Town Hall and a large marquee at Phyllis Court Club by the Thames.

Bestselling authors Paula Hawkins, David Nicholls, Elif Shafak, Bella Mackie, Roddy Doyle, Jodi Picoult, Robert Harris, Kate Mosse, Jacqueline Wilson, Irvine Welsh, Santa Montefiore, Nikki May and Lynda La Plante all appear, alongside entertainers and broadcasters Michael Palin, Trevor McDonald, Sara Cox, Rupert Everett, Zeinab Badawi, Gyles Brandreth, Susie Dent, Celia Imrie and Fearne Cotton.

Events for children of all ages include Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson, Paralympian Jonnie Peacock, Supertato creator Sue Hendra, Rob Biddulph and Katie Kirby.

Strictly judges Anton du Beke and Shirley Ballas will each hit the Henley stage, as will beloved poets Pam Ayres, Roger McGough and Donna Ashworth. From the world of sport Henry Blofeld, Iwan Thomas, Gabby Logan, F1 expert Will Buxton and Felix Francis all feature, as do comedians Julian Clary, Helen Lederer, Danny Wallace, Rosie Holt and Celebrity Juice star Leigh Francis.

Thousands of years of history will be covered by Max Hastings, William Dalrymple, Alison Weir, Jonathan Dimbleby, Richard Dannatt, Clare Mulley and Damien Lewis, while on current affairs there is Liam Fox, Will Hutton, Rachel Clarke, Tom Burgis, Iain Dale, Polly Toynbee and Nadhim Zahawi. Gardening experts Sarah Raven, Carol Klein and Rachel de Thame share their wisdom, Rick Stein, Tim Spector and Tom Parker-Bowles discuss food and Zandra Rhodes looks back on her life in fashion. Local authors speaking this year include Cesca Major, Anthony Wootton, Kirsty Dougal, Jim Donaghue and Toni Ilsley.

The Festival will be followed in November by a series of pop-up events including David and Yinka Olusoga, Wayne Sleep, the Reverend Richard Coles and Marcus Wareing.

Programmes will be available from Monday 8 July in and around Henley and the surrounding areas.

Tickets go on general sale on July 15. Early booking for Friends of the Festival opens on July 9 – there is still time to become a Friend of the Festival to get priority booking for just £35.

National treasures and local authors in line-up

Sarah Haynes — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:58:33 +0000

National treasures and local first-time authors are among the latest exciting names revealed for this year’s Henley Literary Festival, including Michael Palin, Zeinab Badawi, Dawn O’Porter, Roger McGough and Supertato creator Sue Hendra.

The 18^th annual Festival will host over 100 conversations, talks, performances and workshops for adults and children from September 28 to October 6.

Michael Palin returns for the first time since a 2012 sell-out with the latest volume of his diaries, while Channel 4 and BBC news veteran Zeinab Badawi makes her Festival debut with An African History of Africa. Two of the country’s best-loved poets are on the line-up in Roger McGough and Pam Ayres.

Bestsellers Dawn O’Porter and Bella Mackie, author of How To Kill Your Family, will be in conversation about their highly anticipated latest novels, Honeybee and What a Way to Go, both to be published shortly before the Festival.

Festival favourite Gyles Brandreth, BAFTA-winning comedian Danny Wallace, gardening expert Sarah Raven, Strictly judge Anton du Beke and bestselling military historian Damien Lewis will all be appearing at the Festival. As ever the Festival contains a strong local contingent, including journalist Helen Chandler-Wilde with her memoir Lost & Found and The Greatest American Football Story That Has Never Been Told author Anthony Wootton.

Events for children will include Supertato creator Sue Hendra, alongside the previously announced Julia Donaldson and Jonnie Peacock. Other speakers already confirmed for the Festival include David Nicholls, Elif Shafak, Rupert Everett and Laura Dockrill.

Many more speakers will be announced in the coming months, ahead of tickets going on sale to Friends of the Festival on July 9 and general sale on July 15. In addition to priority booking, Friends receive exclusive offers. Friends membership is available here and on 01491 575948 (10am-2pm Monday -Thursday).