Stars roll out for Tunbridge Wells Lit Fest 2025
Richard Ayoade, Martin Clunes, Lucy Worsley, Rupert Everett, Louise Minchin, Rhianna Pratchett & more
Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival returns from Monday 05 – Sunday 11 May. (Scroll down for full line-up).
This year’s literary love-in has more than 30 events – author talks, writing and illustration workshops – taking place across the town’s cultural venues including the Assembly Hall Theatre, The Amelia Scott, Trinity Theatre, The Forum, Town Square and Royal Victoria Place, exploring storytelling from new perspectives in our most diverse lineup yet. (TICKETS)
From 5 May, we celebrate the year of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, welcoming the West End show Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel and Lucy Worsley with her delightful biography Jane Austen at Home. We will also hear from Nikki May about her new novel This Motherless Land: a powerful de-colonial retelling of Mansfield Park.
National treasure Martin Clunes will be recounting remarkable stories of the moving and sometimes astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives in his delightful book Meetings With Remarkable Animals.
Comedy icon Richard Ayoade discusses his brilliant debut novel The Unfinished Harauld Hughes on 08 May, a whimsical biography of a fictional playwright.
Poetry takes centre stage with the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage introducing a selection of poems from his brand-new collection Dwell.
When discussing Scatter Brain, we’ll join much-loved comedian Shappi Khorsandi in conversation with comedian Robin Ince, as she looks back on her life through the lens of ADHD and finally makes sense of the chaos. From discovering the joys of shoplifting through to finally understanding her attraction to toxic men, Scatter Brain will have you laughing (and crying) as you find out what it's really like to live a life out of control.
Nature and the environment will see The Amelia will play host to our local celebrity gardener Sarah Raven who will be taking us through the seasons in A Year Full of Pots. Gaia Vince will discuss her book Nomad Century: exploring the benefits of migration in the face of the climate crisis, and Tim Minshall will demonstrate the foundational role that manufacturing plays in human life, with Your Life is Manufactured.
Teens and young readers are invited to a fascinating Young Adult Crime Thriller Panel with award winning YA author Ravena Guron, and for eager young minds we have two brilliant opportunities for schools. Key stage 1 students are invited to join the veg-tastic world of Supertato and Evil Pea with co-creator Paul Linnet. Key stage 2 can join the amazing World Book Day writers Stephen and Anita Mangan with their latest book The Fart That Saved the Universe.
Showcasing the many different forms literature can take, this year we are exploring tabletop roleplaying games with a particular focus on Dungeons & Dragons. This genre, which we are calling D&D Is Literature, explores just how much phenomenal writing has shaped, and continues to develop, the world’s most popular roleplaying games. Meanwhile, author, video game writer and daughter of Terry, Rhianna Pratchett gives a talk on creative legacies.
Rough Justice is served as Wendy Joseph KC returns following her sell out appearance two years ago. Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent, introduces his gripping book Invasion. Drawing on his years of experience reporting on global security stories and in-depth knowledge of the security services, this is his most frighteningly real, unnerving and explosive thriller yet.
Renowned feminist lawyer Harriet Wistrich joins the festival to discuss Sister in Law, which brings together ten of her most hard-won cases. The incisive litigator behind
several historic legal battles, championing women’s voices and challenging institutional sexism has put pen to paper to tell readers what it takes to bring about change.
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Waterloo (the song, not the battle) – a seminal moment in pop history which saw Swedish sensation ABBA burst on to the international music scene. How is it that half a century later this seventies Eurovision act is bigger than ever – reaching listeners of all ages and spinning off into musicals, museums and holograms? Giles Smith, writer and music fan, sets out to find out why in his book My My! ABBA Through the Ages. This will be our first event at the Tunbridge Wells Forum.
In The Nazi Mind, bestselling author Laurence Rees combines history and the latest research in psychology to help answer some of the most perplexing questions surrounding the Second World War and the Holocaust.
Fans of gardening are also in for a treat as James Canton talks about all things rewilding from his book Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World. James will be in conversation with Kate Bradbury, author of One Garden Against the World.
New for 2025 we are introducing live streaming so that book lovers from further afield can enjoy incredible events without the need to travel, helping to lower emissions!
Also new for 2025 is an exciting collaboration with Kent Libraries, where those with valid library card will be able to access exclusive discounts on TW Lit Fest talks in The Amelia. A great benefit for those who already visit our amazing Libraries and the perfect excuse to get a library card for anyone still to join. Further details are available on the TW Lit Fest website.
Tickets for the 2025 Lit Fest are now on sale with many new authors still to be announced! Ahead of time tickets can be purchased online at twlitfest.co.uk , over the phone on 01892 554441, or in person at The Amelia Scott.
