Biggest and Boldest Literature Festival in Bury St Edmunds This October

The Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival is returning for its 7th annual festival this 9-12th October 2025 with its biggest and boldest festival yet.

The four day programme of author events, creative writing workshops, walks and film screenings coming to Bury St Edmunds in October will be revealed on Wednesday 2nd July at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds in a special event to launch the festival’s box office opening to general sale.

Programme Curator, Bury St Edmunds based author Kate Sawyer says: “I’m so delighted with the line-up for this year's festival - thanks to the generosity of our supporters, sponsors and partners, we have been able to almost double our events, spread our presence across new venues in the town and widen our offering to include workshops, walks and film screenings.

At the heart of the Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival is a wide array of fabulous author events. There’s fiction in every genre from fêted authors (including Sarah Perry, Louis de Bernieres, Ferdia Lennon, Louise Doughty, Laura Shepherd Robinson, Emma Healey), debut authors (including Ferdia Lennon, Emily Buchanan, Marie O’Hare), local authors (including Wendy Holden and Katie Ward) and best-selling authors (including Chris Whitaker and Jennifer Saint) who are appearing in the area for the first time. For those who prefer non-fiction we are excited to present riveting and rigorous author discussions that cover everything from the enduring spirit of Ukraine (STRONG ROOTS; BREAD & WAR - with Olia Hercules & Felicity Spector) and the story of our town’s eponymous Saint (SAINTS - with Amy Jeffs) to a joyful exploration of the impact reading can have on our happiness (READ YOURSELF HAPPY - with Daisy Buchanan, Nikki May & Isabelle Broome).

For children, we have *free* ticketed events for all age groups; there’s sensory storytelling for babies and preschoolers (That’s Not My…at Waterstones Arc), interactive storytelling workshops for kids (Serena Patel at Bury St Edmunds Library) and an exploration of expression through poetry, rap and verse for young people (Ashley Hickson-Lovence at Unitarian Meeting Hall). All this to complement an expanded programme for local schools that covers all Key Stages, with brilliant author-led onsite school events presented as part of our creative writing competition (the entries for which close on 20th July!)

This year, as has always been our goal, we're expanding beyond author events and forging new partnerships to deliver exciting new workshops and events. We're delighted to be working with Gold Dust Writer Mentoring to offer our first Creative Writing Workshops (which are sold as a full day or individual sessions), Wensum Trust, Usborne Books, Bury St Edmunds Library and Waterstones Bury St Edmunds Arc to expand our children's programme, Abbeygate Cinema for film screenings to complement our literary events (Heaven in Auschwitz - for Wendy Holden’s THE TEACHER OF AUSCHWITZ, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - for Louis de Bernières & Akenfield - for Ian Collin’s Blythe Spirit) and Bury Tour Guides who have curated a very special guided walk taking in sites of literary note across the town. In addition to this, we are delighted to be offering a half-day gardening workshop with author/gardeners Sally Morgan and Becky Searle which is the perfect practical accompaniment to their author talk on their books that tackle gardening for climate change. We hope there is something for everyone.”

Chair and founder of the festival Julia Wakelam says: “I am so looking forward to this year’s Festival. Kate has put together a cornucopia of incredible authors, known & to be discovered, for us to enjoy. This Festival would not be possible without the hard work and support of many people and organisations, not least our audience, for supporting this Festival and helping us spread the love of books and writing in East Anglia.”

The full programme will be available to book at https://www.burylitfest.co.uk/ from 4th July. The festival is offering a 10% Early Bird Discount for those who book their tickets before 31st July.