Summary
The world’s longest-running literature festival has welcomed its biggest-ever box office sales as it celebrates the enduring power of stories in the National Year of Reading. The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival brought together readers, writers and audiences of all ages for 10 days to celebrate the stories that matter.
Details
Taking place from October 9-18, the Festival welcomed more than 1,000 authors and speakers across more than 500 events and sold a record breaking 103,394 tickets, 10,000 more than 2025, demonstrating a lasting appetite for stories, ideas and shared experiences.
In the National Year of Reading, the Festival brought together emerging talent, literary greats and household names including Michael Morpurgo, Katherine Ryan, Fearne Cotton, Craig Revel Horwood, Sajid Javid, Celia Imrie, Russell T Davies, Joe Marler, Mary Berry, Prue Leith and Reece Shearsmith, along with schools, families and community groups, showing the power of literature to spark curiosity, open up new perspectives and connect people across generations.
Audiences heard from some of the most compelling voices in literature, film and TV including rugby legend and Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler on men’s mental health in sport, award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell on adapting her novel Hamnet, Radio 1 DJ Greg James on how audiobooks are an important gateway into reading for young people, and Meera Syal on the generational stories, experiences and wisdom that shape our lives.
Related stories
Across the programme, conversations ranged from fiction and memoir to history, politics, sport, art, nature and popular culture, reflecting the many ways people engage with stories. A central part of this year’s Festival was its commitment to shaping the next generation of storytellers.
Around 12,000 schoolchildren from across Gloucestershire took part in Festival events, while families enjoyed an extensive programme of interactive shows, workshops and creative activities in the Festival’s dedicated Children’s Area, along with events featuring How to Train Your Dragon Author Cressida Cowell, Lottie Brooks creator Katie Kirby, Grimwood author Nadia Shireen and BBC The Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin.
The Festival also continues to create opportunities for young people to share their own stories and explore the issues that matter to them.
In VOICEBOX – Cheltenham Festivals‘ free programme made for young people by young people – emerging creatives and established voices including Heartstopper star Bradley Riches, Frequently Happy author David Larbi, and campaigner and broadcaster Ashley James were just some of the creatives who spoke to audiences, amplifying bold voices, sparking big conversations, and inspiring change through performances, talks and workshops spanning pop culture, identity, wellbeing and society.
Report source: Punchline Gloucester
