Leeds Lit Fest 2026 Unveils Full Programme for Citywide Celebration of Words, Ideas and Imagination

A vibrant nine-day celebration of storytelling, poetry, performance and creativity will take over the city this summer as Leeds Lit Fest returns from Saturday 6 June to Sunday 14 June 2026.

Now in its eighth year, the festival brings together acclaimed authors, emerging voices, publishers, performers and readers for more than 50 events across venues throughout Leeds, with something to inspire every kind of book lover.

This year’s programme celebrates the power of literature to entertain, challenge and connect audiences through an exciting mix of live shows, conversations, workshops, exhibitions and community events.

Headline names include Vince Cable, discussing shifting global power in Eclipsing the West; poet and performer John Hegley, presenting New & Selected Potatoes; award-winning poet Kim Moore, with her acclaimed collection The House of Broken Things; and spoken word performer and theatre maker Naomi Wood, bringing her new show Monster to the festival stage.

John Hegley said:

“I know of a writer in Leeds
who reads and who reads and who reads;
of course they write too,
but when planting the new,
what you’ve read helps you bed in the seeds.

Come to Leeds Literature Fest to read and to listen… and rest.”

Standout poetry and spoken word events include door-to-door poet Rowan McCabe’s Hard Knocks, Say Owt Slam, Isabella Dorta & Friends, Northern Poets Collective, Poets Talking Bollocks and Safety in Numbers.

Readers interested in current affairs and big ideas can explore events such as Tackling Climate Change via Fiction with John Ironmonger, Orwell and Spain: The Birth of a Dystopia, and Illegal to be Gay? with Arathi Menon.

Independent publishing and bookselling are also strongly represented, with highlights including the Northern Fiction Alliance Book Fair, Bluemoose Books 20th Birthday Bash, the Harper North Publisher Workshop, and the ever-popular Bookshop Crawl UK.

Joe Williams, writer, poet and member of the Leeds Lit Fest Steering Group, said:

“The thing I love most about this programme is the variety of it. We’ve got well-known names alongside local and grassroots writers.

One day you might see someone who’s been on national TV and radio, the next day someone who’s had a hit show at the Edinburgh Fringe, and another day a promising young writer doing their first ever public performance. It’s brilliant and exciting.”

The festival also champions creativity and participation, with hands-on sessions including The Worldbuilder Workshop with David Hartley, recently shortlisted for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction 2026; Poetry & Rap Workshop with Lence; Once Upon a Now Workshop with F R Kesby; and Leeds Line by Line, where audiences can help create a community poem.

For younger writers, there is still time to enter the festival’s 400 Words for Leeds 400 children’s writing competition, helping to inspire the next generation of storytellers while marking 400 years since Leeds received its Royal Charter in 1626.

Open to children and young people from EYFS through to Sixth Form, entrants are invited to submit an original story, poem, monologue or piece of creative non-fiction of up to 400 words.

Leeds Lit Fest 2026 promises a joyful citywide celebration of reading, writing and imagination, with opportunities for audiences of all ages to discover new voices, share ideas and be inspired.

For the full programme and tickets, visit: www.leedslitfest.co.uk

Run by a small volunteer team, the festival has quickly become one of the city’s most vibrant cultural events, championing accessibility, inclusion and the joy of reading and writing. Largely unfunded it has launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the events programme and festival running costs:  https://gofund.me/dcd083cd

Full programme information and tickets are available at Leeds Lit Fest: www.leedslitfest.co.uk.

Images: John Hegley by Suzi Corker; Kim Moore by Rebecca Higson; Rowan McCabe supplied by Rowan McCabe; Northern Poets Collective supplied by themselves; Isabella Dorta supplied by Isabella Dorta. Sir Vince Cable, copyright House of Commons.