about us
Our Festival
Over 30 Years Of celebrating the joy of books
The Festival promotes a love of reading, of the pleasure to be found in picking up a book and discovering new worlds, fresh ideas or fascinating characters within its cover. For more than 30 years Wells Festival of Literature has attracted a wide range of writers, from novelists to scientists, politicians to poets, to come and inspire its audiences. And it doesn’t stop there as the Festival works year-round with local schools and colleges. An exciting programme of author visits and classroom workshops all help youngsters to discover the joy of reading for themselves.
“I didn’t hesitate to return to Wells again this year, one of the most well-organised and successful literature festivals I have ever appeared at. The organisers pay the writers a decent fee and the remaining profits from the festival to go towards educational good causes.”
John O’Farrell – 2024
What makes our festival so special?
WFL is a registered charity entirely run by a committee of volunteers, and funded by ticket sales, competition entries and generous local sponsors and Friends. It’s thanks to this support that we can help fund all manner of local educational projects one of which is the now traditional series of talks to Year Six pupils (more than 1000 of them in 2024!) by a best-selling author (Lindsay Galvin in 2024). Not only is the event funded by WFL. Children are also provided with subsidised books
The Festival has come a long way since 1992, growing from a weekend in the Bishop’s Palace to a nine-day extravaganza in Cedars Hall, a state-of-the-art performance venue situated in the beautiful grounds of Wells Cathedral School. Unlike many other festivals, no two events run at the same time. So it is possible (if ambitious!) to attend them all. That includes – in recent years – taking part in our Literary Quiz. This exciting break with tradition was kindly hosted by the Swan Hotel in 2024. Watch this space for future arrangements.
Throughout its history the Festival has continued to adapt and grow. In 2020 we ran a hybrid Festival with a mix of live and ‘virtual’ events, all of them live-streamed. In 2021 we also offered a choice, allowing our audiences to attend in person or to watch from home. We now offer live events only, a popular format which allows us to transfer a greater proportion of our surplus to educational projects than to technology!
Find out more about our active education programme, Read how the Festival began, or take a look at our writing competitions which attract entries from all over the world.
There’s something for everyone at the Wells Festival of Literature.
“Many thanks for all the hard work of organising the Literature festival. Amazing quality and variety of speakers. Excellent organisation and venue. Again, thank you so much for bringing such a quality event to Wells and for using the event to raise the profile of reading and money for young people in the area.”
Dr Rachel Clarke – 2024
