Welcome to
our Festival


16-24 October 2026

Set up in 1992 to celebrate the written word

Tickets now on sale

2026 Speakers

  • Patrick Gale

    Fiction

  • Stephen Sackur

    Current Affairs

  • Katja Hoyer

    History

  • Adrian Wooldridge

    Current Affairs

  • Louisa Young

    Literature

  • Jess Venner

    History

  • Jonathan Dimbleby

    Current Affairs

  • Martin Sixsmith

    Current Affairs

  • Martin Gayford

    Art

  • Rachel Seiffert

    Literature

  • Richard Elwes

    Science

  • Rory Cormac

    Current Affairs

  • Wells Literary Quiz

    Quiz

  • International Competitions

    International Competitons

  • Damien Lewis

    History

  • Peter Ormerod

    Music

  • Elizabeth Goldring

    Art

  • Daisy Fancourt

    Health

  • Arthur Snell

    Current Affairs

  • Sophia Smith Galer

    Language

  • Sara Wheeler

    Biography

  • Florence Hazrat

    Literature

  • Oz Clarke

    Food and Drink

  • Henry Normal

    Poetry

  • Amy Jeffs

    History

  • Gavin Francis

    Health

  • Oliver Bullough

    Current Affairs

  • Kate Williams

    History

  • Rebecca Seal

    Health

  • Dan Cruickshank

    Art

  • Andrea Wulf

    Biography

  • Ping Coombes

    Food

  • Nicholas Crane

    Travel

  • Lady Hale

    Current Affairs

  • Cathy Rentzenbrink

    Health/Centenary

  • Blake Morrison

    Memoir

  • Maggie Aderin

    Memoir

Our 2026 Sponsors

Principal Festival Sponsor

2026 Brochure

Download PDF Brochure View Digital Brochure

Following a visit from A.F. Harrold:

“It was an enriching session that enhanced our pupils’ appreciation and understanding of poetry. Huge thanks to the Education Team at The Wells Festival of Literature for organising and funding this visit!”

Fairlands Middle School – Cheddar

Education projects

Wells Festival of Literature

Wells Festival of Literature is a registered charity entirely run by a committee of volunteers, funded by ticket sales, competition entries and generous local sponsors and Friends.

SPENT IN 2025 ON PROJECTS IN LOCAL SCHOOLS
CHILDREN INVOLVED
IN 2025
EVENTS
HAPPY FESTIVAL
VISITORS A YEAR

News

  • Top award for Masud Husain

    Top award for Masud Husain

    Festival speaker, neurologist Masud Husain, has won the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize for his book Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain. The prize exists to bridge the divide between science and the public, championing non-fiction books that use captivating narratives to open science to a…

  • justice for war crimes

    justice for war crimes

    Will we ever see Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu on trial, asks Steve Crawshaw in  Prosecuting the Powerful. As someone who has devoted his career to the pursuit of international justice, working for the likes of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Freedom From Torture, he replies with the answer that the possibilities of justice…

  • Pre-Festival orders at Waterstones

    Pre-Festival orders at Waterstones

    Pop up to Waterstones in Wells High Street to pre-order copies of books by any of the speakers you look forward to hearing at the Festival. Waterstones will also be running its Cedars Hall Festival Bookshop during the Festival, and all available copies of the featured books will be displayed in the pop-up, and not…

  • The Lost Girls of Autism

    The Lost Girls of Autism

    Why is the history of autism male? This is a question asked by neuroscientist Gina Rippon whose eponymous book delves into the emerging science of female autism. Autistic girls are often misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression or personality disorders because they are more likely to camouflage or hide autistic traits to fit in. Gina points to…

Competitions
Education
Friends
  • Nick Trend with visitor
  • Physics Students meet Frank Close