Dear Festival Friends We’re delighted to announce that our full 2026 Stroud Book Festival programme is now available to browse on our website – stroudbookfestival.org.uk. We’ll be presenting more than 40 events for readers of all ages over the five days of the Festival – 4-8 November – so please “dive in” (thank you Tom…

Arifa Akbar – Jason Arday – Rob Biddulph – AK Blakemore – Keith Brymer-Jones – Emma Carroll – Horatio Clare – Joseph Coelho – Mark Cummings – Katie Fforde – Ben Garrod – Colin Grant – Daniel Hahn – Matt Haig – Sally Hayden – Sue Hendra – Amy Jeffs – Jeneba & Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason…

Dear Festival Friends We promised you an exciting announcement in our next newsletter, and here it is… MAGGIE O’FARRELL Stroud Book Festival is delighted to announce that one of Britain’s best and most beloved contemporary novelists, Maggie O’Farrell will be joining us for an in-conversation event to discuss her new novel, “Land” on the morning…

Dear Festival Friends It’s our first newsletter for a while but this edition brings with it some exciting news. HOLLIE McNISH We’re thrilled to announce that our 2026 Stroud Book Festival guest poet will be the one and only Hollie McNish. Joining us at Stroud Sub Rooms on Friday 6th November, 8.30-9.30pm, Hollie is a…

Dear Festival Friends, As 2025 draws to a close, we have two special Christmas announcements. Firstly, we’re delighted to say that as a festive treat, you can now watch a video of our sell-out 2025 event with Stroud Book Festival patron, Ian McEwan, talking about his acclaimed latest novel, “What We Can Know”. Simply go…

Dear Festival Friends Two weeks on and we’re still coming down to earth after Stroud Book Festival 2025. We know that many of you were disappointed not to be able to attend some of our most popular events this year because they sold out so quickly. Thanks to our fabulous tech team led by Rob,…

Dear Festival Friends Two simple words, but ones filled with gratitude for helping us to make Stroud Book Festival 2025 our most successful ever. After five fun-packed days and 40+ events, including seven for local primary schools, this year’s festival came to a close with more than 6500 tickets sold. Whichever events you attended –…

“For a long time I’ve felt that libraries and archives are a kind of poor relation of the cultural sector: they don’t have the glamour of the art gallery or the big museum. So I wanted to get across why they are so important for society.” Richard Ovenden, rare books expert, Fellow of the Society…

Dear Festival Friends Stroud Book Festival 2025 gets underway in just under two weeks’ time on Wednesday 5th November. On our opening night at our main venue of Stroud Sub Rooms we present FIREWORDS NIGHT (7.30-9.00pm), a very special, very Stroud event designed to celebrate the power of books and reading and to mark the…

Dear Festival Friends, With Stroud Book Festival 2025 now under three weeks away, we’d like to thank you for your support, and for reading this now weekly bulletin which aims to give you the latest news, including some background behind some of the events we have programmed this year. This week, with the announcement of…