Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival 2026

Bury St Edmunds Literary Festival has announced its biggest and boldest programme yet to celebrate the National Year of Reading.

This year, it brings together bestselling authors, local writers and exciting new voices across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The programme also introduces a new food strand, a Festival of Nature in partnership with Suffolk Wildlife Trust and an extensive programme of free events for children and young people, all happening between October 8 and 11.

"It’s our biggest, boldest array of exciting, thought-provoking and joyful talks, poetry readings, workshops, walks, film screenings and performances in our nine-year history. Whatever you are into, you’ll find something that will make you want to ‘Go All In’,” said Artistic Director Kate Sawyer.

‘Go All In’ is a UK wide campaign by the National Literacy Trust to inspire people to make reading a regular part of their lives. Festival highlights include: Acclaimed author events which bring together bestselling authors such as Rachel Joyce, Sarah Winman, Abi Dare, Louis de Bernieres, Nussaibah Younis, T M Logan, Monique Roffey and Damian Barr.

Panel discussions will introduce fresh voices alongside recognisable names, exploring diverse subjects like family life, modern love, football fiction, the life of Marilyn Monroe, and romantasy.

There is also a special showcase event celebrating reading groups with national book club The Book Taster.

For the first time, the festival features a dedicated food programme curated by food writer Nicola Miller, which celebrates Bury St Edmunds’ reputation as the Food Capital of East Anglia by pairing the town’s literary identity with its culinary culture.

In collaboration with Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the festival will bring nature writing and environmental storytelling to the forefront, with events featuring nature writers like Michael J Warren, Stephen Rutt and Robert Ashton.

Budding writers will also get to take part in workshops on researching a novel, writing crime, writing poetry, and goal setting with a selection of workshops, delivered in partnership with Gold Dust Mentoring and Poetry Aloud.

In partnership with Bury Tour Guides, there will be literary walks to uncover the town's centuries old relationship with writers and storytelling.

To complement the author programme, Abbeygate Cinema will host special screenings of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and The Prince and the Showgirl. An extensive free programme for children and young people, featuring interactive storytelling, graphic novel workshops with Jack Noel, and myths and legends sessions with Kevin Crossley-Holland.

All tickets to events for under-18s are free of charge.

To see the full programme and book tickets, visit the Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival website.