Clifton LitFest to return this November 2026
Clifton LitFest is set to return for its seventh edition from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th November 2026, with an expanded three-day programme bringing an even bigger celebration of books, ideas and conversation to Bristol.
This year’s festival will open with a new Friday daytime programme focusing particularly on local writers and stories, before moving into a packed weekend bringing together leading voices from literature, politics, culture, history, food, nature and current affairs.
The expansion marks the latest chapter for a festival that has grown from a community-led celebration of literature into a distinctive fixture in Bristol’s cultural calendar, while remaining rooted in Clifton and the people and places that make the city such a fertile home for writers and ideas.
The 2026 edition will open at the Clifton Club with a series of talks celebrating writers and stories with strong connections to the local area. Speakers include Mike Jay on the remarkable history of Clifton’s Pneumatic Institution; Amy Fletcher on her great-grandmother, journalist and social reformer Mary Jeune; Bristol-raised novelist Patrick Charnley on his acclaimed debut This, My Second Life; and Julian Evans on Ukraine and his memoir Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War.
Later on Friday evening, former Education Secretary Michael Gove joins economist, social thinker and author Professor Guy Standing for How Can Education Fix Society? The debate will examine what education is for, what young people will need from it in the future, and whether today’s system is creating independent thinkers or simply preparing people for work.
Across Saturday and Sunday, the conversation broadens further, with the current programme featuring figures including Lady Hale, Mary Portas, Jonathan Porritt, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Michael Crick, Thangam Debbonaire, Guy Standing, Brin Pirathapan, John Kampfner and Zahra Joya, alongside writers and thinkers spanning history, nature, philosophy, food, poetry and contemporary culture.
Paula O’Rourke, Chair of Clifton LitFest, explains: “Adding a third day is a really exciting next step for Clifton LitFest. We wanted to create more space for Bristol’s own writers and stories while continuing to bring some of the most interesting voices from across the country to the city. Whether you come to hear someone you already admire or stumble across an idea you weren’t expecting, LitFest is a place for curiosity, conversation and discovery.”
Clifton LitFest 2026 will also create more opportunities for young people across Bristol to become part of the festival. Its Young Writers Competition invites students in Years 9-13 from schools, academies and colleges across Bristol, as well as home-schooled young people living in the city, to submit fiction or non-fiction inspired by this year’s theme, “The Voice” or “Voices.”
Created to coincide with the National Year of Reading 2026, the theme celebrates stories, ideas and self-expression, encouraging young people not only to discover other people’s voices through reading, but to find their own through writing. Winners will be celebrated at a special Clifton LitFest event on 14 November, with award-winning actor Paul McGann reading excerpts from the winning pieces.
Clifton LitFest takes place from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November 2026. Organised by the Friends of Clifton Centre and Library (FoCCaL), Clifton LitFest is built around a belief in the power of reading, ideas and shared conversation.
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