Durham Book Festival
Join us at Durham Book Festival 2025
For one long buzzing autumn weekend, Durham invites you to celebrate the transformative power of words.
Get ready to be challenged, inspired, entertained, and swept away as some of the hottest names in books descend on the city.
With over 25 events across three days, delve into history, humour, poetry, and fiction.
Durham Book Festival takes place 10–12 October at Gala Durham, Clayport Library and Collected Books. Audiences can also join in online.
We’re delighted to be back with another celebration of books, ideas and talent at this year’s Durham Book Festival.
We have appearances from internationally best-selling North East writers, including Dame Pat Barker, Ann Cleeves and Eliza Clark. Fiona Hill will be launching her new podcast series, Forged in the North, exploring how the North East has shaped the lives of successful people from Sting to Sara Davies. Festival favourite Andrew McMillan will host brilliant fellow poets Malika Booker, Jo Clement and Paul Farley, who we have commissioned to write new poems 40 years on from the Miner’s Strike and Tony Harrison’s seminal poem v..
We’ve got fabulous fiction from novelists including Natasha Brown, Jonathan Coe and Grainne O’Hare, and non-fiction from journalists including John Harris and Lanre Bakare. Broadcasters Mary Portas and Durham University alumnus Jeremy Vine will be with us too.
The WOW Show
There’s no denying it – the world feels heavy right now and the news feels relentless. Rights are being rolled back across the globe, and the UN says gender equality is still 134 years away. It’s easy to feel hopeless – but WOW – Women of the World believes there’s still much to celebrate. Fresh from its Edinburgh Fringe run, join WOW Founder Jude Kelly for powerful stories and bold conversations as The WOW Show tours the North East, taking a fresh look at feminism today with very special guests. At this event, Jude welcomes the brilliant comedian and writer Shaparak “Shappi” Khorsandi, bringing her trademark wit and fearless honesty to the stage.
Jeremy Vine: Murder on Line One
Inspired by a childhood love of Agatha Christie, and his decades-long career as a journalist, beloved broadcaster Jeremy Vine has finally written his own murder mystery, Murder on Line One. When late night radio show host Edward Temmis realises his listeners are dying under mysterious circumstances, he is determined to solve the mystery of who is targeting his ageing listeners.
John Harris: Maybe I’m Amazed
When John Harris’ son James was diagnosed with autism, music became their main form of communication. In Maybe I’m Amazed, John describes how their shared passion for The Beatles, Kraftwerk, The Velvet Underground and Amy Winehouse helped him through the struggles of raising a neurodivergent child in a prejudiced world, casting new light on why music speaks so powerfully to the human mind. Hear more about John’s new book at Durham Book Festival, chaired by Maximo Park’s Paul Smith.
Fiona Hill: Forged in the North
Forged in the North is a new podcast series from Fiona Hill, exploring how the North East has shaped the lives of successful people, from musical icon Sting and writers such as Lee Hall and Peter Straughan, to entrepreneur and former Dragon Sara Davies. In this special event celebrating the new podcast, Fiona will be speaking to authors Dan Jackson and Richard O’Neill about how they tell the story of our region in their books and how the North East has forged them both.
Highlights from Durham Book Festival 2024
Accessing live-streamed events
To access live-streamed events that you have booked tickets for, go to https://streaming.galadurham.co.uk, log in using the details you used to book your ticket, select the event you have purchased, and click ‘View this Event’. If you have any issues, please ring the Gala Durham box office at 03000 266 600.
Live-streamed events will be available to watch back until 31 October.