What started as a few talks over a weekend in 2007 has grown in to one of the country’s most established Literary Festivals. Now in its 19th year, the Festival runs for a full nine days across three venues around the town, hosting around 120 events each year, not including our year-round Pop-up programme of events in the town. The programme is hugely varied and our adults and children’s programmes encompass a wide range of events covering fiction and non-fiction on everything from music, science, sport, history, politics, food and drink, travel, health, fashion, current affairs and much, much more!

Over the years our audiences have seen Prime Ministers, Booker winners, Brit winners, a Princess, an Astronaut, an Archbishop and Chief Rabbi, alongside Olympians, Oscar-winners, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, Great British Bakers and international bestsellers among our stellar line-ups.

The 2024 festival was our best-ever, with record ticket sales, a stellar line up and glowing feedback for our audiences, authors, interviewers and sponsors. We reached our biggest audience ever with over 24,500 tickets to the public events sold, and 2,344 school children in person and over 10,000 people watched from around the world online including schools and care homes.

Our 2024 highlights video can be seen here.

Henley Literary Festival 2025

The 2025 Henley Literary Festival runs from 4th – 12th October. The line-up will be announced in stages from April onwards and will be announced in full in June.

Contact information

Festival office: 01491 575 948

Website: https://henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk/