Hastings Book Festival Goes Larger
TIM BARLOW
The 9th annual Hastings Book Festival will take place from 10 to 20 September, featuring 40 events and more than 80 speakers and performers. This year’s festival promises another fascinating programme of talks, workshops, children’s events and live performances for anyone with an interest in writing, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, and/or the spoken word.
The headline guests are: historian, writer and broadcaster David Olusoga (creator and host of the wonderful BBC programme A House Through Time), international bestselling author and broadcaster Kate Mosse; ‘the godfather of modern poetry’ Roger McGough; comedian and host of The Infinite Monkey Cage Robin Ince, and Luke Kennard, currently longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
Renowned historian Professor Tom Licence, whose revelatory research into the Battle of Hastings has made global news headlines recently, will feature in a Norman Conquest double-bill with Sam Davey, who is compiling an anthology of local writing focusing on the way 1066 changed our language. Spoken word artist Naomi Wood will perform her amazing one-woman show Monster, and a great line-up of poets of local and national renown will be taking to the stages: Henry Normal, Salena Godden, Andy Riley, Penny Pepper, Katie Taylor, Grace Pilkington, Della Reynolds, John Osborne, James Domestic, Tim Barlow and more.
The popular annual Book Fair will be held at the Observer Building on Saturday 12 September, with over 30 publishers, booksellers, authors and other stallholders. There will be workshops and panel discussions for writers covering routes to publishing, crime writing, horror, short story writing, playwriting with acclaimed playwright Owen Thomas, worldbuilding in fiction, collage and writing.
Scriptwriter, director and patron of the Festival Trix Worrall will introduce science writer Piers Bizony at a special screening of the sci-fi thriller Hardware at the Electric Palace. David Quantick will host a literary quiz at French’s Bar on Robertson Street, and 15 writers and poets will perform short works on the Feral Writers Tour, a Fat Tuesday-style peripatetic event which will roam around seven town-centre bars and cafés.
And there are also six events for children, a Polari LGBTQ+ night with popular local author Paul Burston, a poetry open mic evening at 1200 Postcards with the crew of A Load of Poets, along with published local authors including Jake Arnott, VG Lee, Alex Preston, Michael Smith, Sam Davey, Helen Jacey and David Quantick.
Finally, you can still enter the Festival competitions for short stories, poetry and creative non-fiction – the deadline is 31 August. To see the full programme of events, head to the Festival website at hastingsbookfest.org
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