Instagram Story Save

Drumroll please....

The programme of events for Bath Literature Festival and Bath International Music Festival 2026 has just been announced!

Tickets go on sale via Bath Box Office from 10am this Friday.

For four weeks in May and June Bath will be welcoming authors, poets, historians, comedians and world-class musicians to Bath Festivals’ season 2026.

Bath Literature Festival | Saturday 16 – Sunday 24 May 2026
Bath International Music Festival | Saturday 30 May - Sunday 7 June 2026

#BathLitFest26 #BathMusicFest26

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk @greatwestway @totalguidetobath @bathandwiltshireparent @visitwestuk @bathlive@creativebath@bathbid @bathabbey @theforumbath @stswithinsbath @komedia_bath @thepumproomrestaurant

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #VisitBath #ExploreBath #BathLovesBooks #BooksBooksBooks

Drumroll please....

The programme of events for Bath Literature Festival and Bath International Music Festival 2026 has just been announced!

Tickets go on sale via Bath Box Office from 10am this Friday.

For four weeks in May and June Bath will be welcoming authors, poets, historians, comedians and world-class musicians to Bath Festivals’ season 2026.

Bath Literature Festival | Saturday 16 – Sunday 24 May 2026
Bath International Music Festival | Saturday 30 May - Sunday 7 June 2026

#BathLitFest26 #BathMusicFest26

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk @greatwestway @totalguidetobath @bathandwiltshireparent @visitwestuk @bathlive@creativebath@bathbid @bathabbey @theforumbath @stswithinsbath @komedia_bath @thepumproomrestaurant

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #VisitBath #ExploreBath #BathLovesBooks #BooksBooksBooks

Join us for an evening with Maggie O’Farrell, author of the multi award-winning book and film Hamnet, as we celebrate the release of her latest novel, Land.

Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, Land is at once intimate and epic: a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, and persistent ghosts, and is a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and survival with resilience and love.

Maggie O’Farrell is the author of nine previous novels, including After You’d Gone, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, The Hand that First Held Mine, The Marriage Portrait and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am.

Her novel Hamnet won Waterstones Book of the Year, and the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020.The film of the book – with a screenplay co-written by O’Farrell and director Chloe Zhao - has already won numerous awards at film festivals worldwide, and as well as winning the 2026 Golden Globe for best motion picture, is also tipped to win at the Oscars in March.

Monday 1 June, 7pm
The Forum
Get your tickets from @bathboxoffice

#BathLitFest26

@waterstones @waterstonesbath@visitbathuk @greatwestway @totalguidetobath @bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk @bathlive @creativebath @bathbid @theforumbath @headlinebooks @maggieofarrellofficial

#BathLitFest #BathFestivals #BathFestival #TheBathFestival #WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #VisitBath #ExploreBath #BathLovesBooks

Tom Holland and the lives of the Caesars

We are excited to announce the first author who will be joining us at Bath Literature Festival 2026.

Join Tom Holland as he celebrates his translation for Penguin Classics of Suetonius’s influential, Lives of the Twelve Caesars.

If you'd like to travel back to the Roman Empire with the award-winning star of world’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History pick up your tickets for this fantastic event when tickets go on sale this Friday.

Friday 22 May, 7pm
The Forum

#BathLitFest26

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk @greatwestway @totalguidetobath@bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk @bathlive @creativebath @bathbid @theforumbath@penguinukbooks @holland_tom_six

#BathLitFest #BathFestivals #BathFestival #TheBathFestival #WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #VisitBath #ExploreBath #BathLovesBooks #Caesars #RomanEmpire #TheRestIsHistory

The monarchy has a soft power on the international stage that wields more might than any politician – so said biographer Robert Hardman, talking about his tribute to the late queen, his book Elizabeth II. In Private. In Public. Her Inside Story.

Many of the stories he told about her long life and reign were familiar to his audience, but that didn’t diminish our pleasure in re-hearing them. We enjoyed a pictorial journey through her life, which included photographs which illustrate the strength of the special relationship between the royal family and the White House.

As a royal correspondent for many years, Robert Hardman has had access to the late Queen, her family and her advisers and he was able to share some fascinating insights into a much-loved monarch. Most touching of all perhaps was the moment on a remote, single track lane in the Highlands, when her oldest son had to stop his car to take the call to say his mother had died. “He then drives to Balmoral Castle and gets out of that car as King Charles III, the monarch,” he told us solemnly.

#BathLitFest2026

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk@greatwestway @totalguidetobath@bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk @creativebath @bathbid @robert_hardman_official

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #BathLovesBooks

The monarchy has a soft power on the international stage that wields more might than any politician – so said biographer Robert Hardman, talking about his tribute to the late queen, his book Elizabeth II. In Private. In Public. Her Inside Story.

Many of the stories he told about her long life and reign were familiar to his audience, but that didn’t diminish our pleasure in re-hearing them. We enjoyed a pictorial journey through her life, which included photographs which illustrate the strength of the special relationship between the royal family and the White House.

As a royal correspondent for many years, Robert Hardman has had access to the late Queen, her family and her advisers and he was able to share some fascinating insights into a much-loved monarch. Most touching of all perhaps was the moment on a remote, single track lane in the Highlands, when her oldest son had to stop his car to take the call to say his mother had died. “He then drives to Balmoral Castle and gets out of that car as King Charles III, the monarch,” he told us solemnly.

#BathLitFest2026

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk@greatwestway @totalguidetobath@bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk @creativebath @bathbid @robert_hardman_official

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #BathLovesBooks

@bathlitfest #bathliteraryfestival

A lovely time at Bath Festival, talking to Ali Vowles about life in the countryside, books and life in general!

Bath Festivals brings everyone together in equal measures to celebrate life-long passions or discover new ones.

Don’t miss out on the second weekend of the festival next weekend Fri 22 - Sun 24 May.

Book your tickets now from @bathboxoffice

#BathLitFest2026

@waterstones @waterstonesbath@visitbathuk@greatwestway @totalguidetobath @bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk@creativebath @bathbid

What a pleasure it was to spend time in the company of good friends, Richard Heller and Peter Oborne, who have lived and breathed cricket for more than 40 years.

The two experts and commentators for the sport started off with a straight bat, talking about their book Full Circle: A History of Cricket. It’s 100 years since HS Altham’s history of the game was written and this new book takes in some of the key changes, not least the phenomenal rise of women’s cricket.

The pair have such a breadth and depth of knowledge in their subject, and their audience were also keen to engage in conversation on their shared passion.

Later they threw in a couple of curved balls. Richard said: “I am angry that test cricket is being marginalised, for example they’re starting to play on Wednesdays in term time, which means families miss out on seeing weekend play.”

They were also concerned about the decline in cricket coaching at English State schools and the shift from cricket as a mass sport.

“But having said all that,” said Peter, “it’s still a glorious sport and one that will bring you a lifetime of pleasure.”

#BathLitFest2026

@waterstones @waterstonesbath@visitbathuk@greatwestway @totalguidetobath @bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk@creativebath @bathbid @bathrugby @bathcricketclub

Bath Literature Festival was proud to welcome Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism, for a rare public appearance.

It was uniquely, an occasion where the bestselling author was unable to read from her own book because of a legal gagging order from her former employer. So journalist Ali Vowles, after careful research, shared excerpts with the audience from the New Zealander’s book, which has just won the British Book Awards’ Freedom to Publish prize, an honour it shares with the late Victoria Giuffre’s memoir.

Following the gagging order, Sarah, the former Director of Policy at Facebook, has turned her enquiries into looking at the rise of AI and into our relationship, as adults and parents, with technology.

The sustained heartfelt applause from the audience brought a tear to the lawyer’s eye and in her closing moments she reminded us: “The analogue tenacity of a book cannot be silenced. A book cannot be silenced.”

#BathLitFest2026

@waterstones @waterstonesbath @visitbathuk@greatwestway @totalguidetobath@bathandwiltshireparent@visitwestuk@creativebath @bathbid

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #BathLovesBooks

how can we all live more artfully? It was such an amazing and inspiring event @bathlitfest in collaboration with @katy.hessel

It was so amazing to see and hear more about the artists Katy has interviewed and what inspired her to write and compose a book with daily prompts from the minds of creatives so show how quickly we can implement art into everyday life.

It was also a pleasure to hear more from the incredible smart Victoria Redel @victoriawriter and her new book, ‘I am you,’ and what inspired it, which I’ll deffo check out too.

Also thanks to @thedaisybee for hosting! (I have ‘how to be a grown up’ on my shelf too)!

The bath literature team are always fabulous and they work so hard to get these events to be up and running around bath - so visit the bath box office for more info on the events running up to the 24th May!

Tours of Bath are happening all through this week as part of the festival.

Enjoy themes:
Five Georgian Crescents
Walcot Street - 2000 Years Of History
Walking With Death
Bath’s treescape - From Warmth to Wellbeing
Bath On Screen
Through Regency Bath With Jane Austen
The Story of Bath’s Botanical Gardens, Bath’s connections with Britain’s slave economy
The Bath Blitz

Some walks are sold out but some still have tickets left.Head to @bathboxoffice to discover which ones you’d like to go on.

#BathLitFest2026

@Waterstones @WaterstonesBath @visitbathuk @GreatWestWay @TotalguidetoBath @BathandWiltshireParent @visitwestuk @creativebath @bathbid

#WhatsOnBath #VisitBath #ThingsToDoInBath #BathLovesBooks

As we close this chapter on the Bath Literature Festival weekend takeover of Visit Bath, we’re looking ahead to next week’s festival events.

👉 Join us from Friday for a packed programme of fiction and non-fiction events, as well as a series of guided themed walks.

Highlights include Anthony Horowitz, Douglas Stuart and Tom Holland, plus current affairs discussions and a fun session with the Sunday papers with Marcus Brigstocke and Bristol comedian Jayde Adams.
@bathlitfest @bathboxoffice

#visitbath #livebath #igersbath