Dear Festival Friends “I am not going to give you aphorisms, platitudes or advice. I am simply going tell you stories of the deaths I faced…how I sat in my grief, learned from it, and how I changed as a result.” The film and TV credits of actor, writer and screenwriter Greg Wise include “Sense…

Dear Festival Friends On 4 November 1982 (so almost exactly 44 years ago) Wham! made their barnstorming debut on Top of the Pops with “Young Guns (Go For It)”. Who knew then that George Michael – that 19-year-old in the leather jerkin and espadrilles – would go on to become one of the biggest stars…

Dear Festival Friends It’s October, and with Stroud Book Festival now only five weeks away, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us. We know that the arrival of shorter days and darker nights can be a difficult transition for some. So given that our Festival takes place in the smoky, damp month…

Dear Festival Friends After spending much of this year reading and planning and discussing and organising, we can hardly believe that Stroud Book Festival 2026 gets underway in less than six weeks’ time. It’s so exciting to see tickets already selling well for our 2026 programme, and as ever we’re hugely grateful to our loyal…

“I wanted to remind myself that the world is not just a cruel and horrible place; that also has beauty and kindness and goodness in it.” Irish author and foreign correspondent Sally Hayden is talking about her profoundly affecting second book, “This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World” in…

Dear Festival Friends We know that many of you enjoy browsing our Stroud Book Festival printed brochure so we’re delighted to announce that our 2026 edition is now available to pick up from venues around Stroud and beyond, including Stroud Bookshop, Stroud Sub Rooms, Stroud Library, Borderless Books and the Yellow Lighted Bookshop. For the…

Dear Festival Friends, And off we go! Tickets will go on sale tomorrow at 10am for all our 2026 Stroud Book Festival events. Here’s how to book: Choose your events via the Stroud Book Festival website (our printed brochure will be available to pick up from the Sub Rooms, Stroud bookshops and other venues around…

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…