News

Our annual Festival of Literature has ended in Cedars Hall, but it continues in homes up and down the country – and all around the world! The brilliant events which have been keeping Wells audiences entertained, informed, amused and engaged since 15 October will remain available for everyone to enjoy until 25 November 2021. Speakers and […]

Sneaking behind the scenes of public life is one of the chief delights of attending the Wells Festival of Literature. Coming face to face with people who know what makes the country’s key figures tick is always fascinating and this year the stories they have to tell are proving more riveting than ever. Beatings in […]

We very much regret that Emma Young, who was scheduled to talk about Super Senses: The Science of Your 32 Senses and How to Use Them has had to pull out of the Festival. This event was due to take place on Sunday 17th October at 4.15pm Please call the Box Office on 01749 834483 to transfer […]

The Festival gets off to a tremendous start this Friday when we welcome the arrival of Our Friends in Beijing, brought to Wells by that veteran China reporter John Simpson. Or could it be Jon Swift? Find out when the Festival opens at 6pm on Friday. If you don’t have a ticket yet, register for live-streaming before […]

Jemma Wadham, scheduled to appear in Wells on the Cedars Hall stage on Saturday 23 October at 2pm, will now be speaking to us direct from where she is currently working – at the frontline of the climate crisis. In a development that perfectly illustrates the nature of the ground-breaking glaciology Jemma is undertaking in the […]

In a change to the published programme, we are delighted to introduce bestselling author Andrew Lownie as he explores the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in the long years after the abdication.  Much has been written about the crisis surrounding Edward VIII’S 1936 abdication itself, but far less is known about the […]

We very much regret that Emma Dabiri, who was scheduled to discuss What White People Can Do Next with Sarah LeFanu, has had to pull out of the Festival. This event was due to take place on Saturday 16 October at 12.15 pm. Anyone who has bought a ticket will be contacted by Cedars Hall box office and […]

Somerset was long considered the heart of England. After all, it’s easy to feel at home here. Many of our speakers do and are: Dr Lucy Pollock who urges us actually to talk about getting older; Lucy Jago who set her first YA book at Montacute House and has now written about a scandal at […]

Legendary war reporter Kate Adie CBE, in conversation with Festival Patron William Waldegrave, set the tone for this year’s Festival during a unique pre-Festival event for Friends and supporters, sponsored by Investec. Kate reported from battlefields and disaster zones all over the globe and her descriptions of what she saw were mesmerising. Her experiences at […]

Recent announcements about some of this year’s Festival events will certainly provide plenty to get people talking. First on the horizon is the opportunity to listen in on someone else’s conversation – a chat between the legendary war reporter Kate Adie CBE and the Festival’s own distinguished patron, Lord Waldegrave. This fascinating exchange will take […]