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 of Saturday 10th October at Stroud Sub Rooms at 11am.
“Land” is Maggie’s tenth novel and her most ambitious to date. Inspired by her own Irish family history and the landscape of the Wild Atlantic Way, it is a spellbinding, multi-generational epic which channels themes of separation, longing, recovery and survival in the shadow of tragedy. It is also a powerful story about place, and how layers of history change landscapes and the people who live in them.

The publication of “Land” follows the release of the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning film adaptation of Maggie’s highly acclaimed novel “Hamnet”, starring Jessie Buckley. Maggie co-wrote the screenplay with the film’s Oscar-winning director, Chloé Zhao, and since it came out has been in high demand for events around the world. So we are thrilled to have secured her for a Stroud event, albeit outside our core Stroud Book Festival dates.

Tickets for this very special on-off event are £14 and will be available for everyone to purchase from the Sub Rooms box office from Friday 4th June (a day or two earlier for Sub Rooms Members and Patrons).

We look forward to seeing you at what promises to be a captivating event. To find out more and to book, please click here.

HOLLIE McNISH
We will be announcing further events for Stroud Book Festival 2026 (4-8 November) very soon.
In the meantime, tickets to see the widely acclaimed Hollie McNish, Stroud Book Festival’s Guest Poet 2026 on Friday 6th November are well on the way to selling out. So if you’d like to spend an hour in the company of one of Britain’s most exciting contemporary poets, please book very soon to avoid disappointment.
Tickets from the Subs website.

LAURIE LEE PRIZE FOR WRITING 2026
Finally a reminder that this year’s Laurie Lee Prize for Writing is now open for entries. Free to enter, the Prize is open to unpublished writers currently resident in Gloucestershire, and to those who were born in the county. The criteria also permit entries from anyone studying (at school or university) or working in Gloucestershire.
The theme for this year’s Prize is BEGINNINGS, and submitted writing on that theme can be fiction, non-fiction or poetry.

Two prizes will be awarded. The first to a writer aged 21 or over who will receive prize money of £1000. The second will go to a writer aged between 16-20 years (1st place: £500, 2nd place: £300, 3rd place: £200).
The closing dates for entries for both awards is Wednesday 15th July.

Please visit the Stroud Book Festival website for full details of eligibility criteria and how to enter: www.stroudbookfestival.org.uk/about-the-laurie-lee-prize

More news from us soon. In the meantime, happy reading!