Durham Book Festival is back for 2024!
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Drum roll please… The programme for Durham Book Festival 2024 is here.
A starry literary line-up will descend on the city for its flagship book festival, which runs across three days (10–13 October). Audiences can also join in online.
Taking place at Gala Durham, Clayport Library and Collected Books, the festival offers over 35 events over a bustling long weekend.
Delve into history, politics, humour, poetry, philosophy, and fiction.
Discover new authors and fan over old favourites.
Helen Fielding headlines the festival discussing her phenomenal series, Bridget Jones’s Diary, which shaped our cultural landscape.
From America, two blockbuster authors top the bill – Rebecca F. Kuang (Yellowface) and Jodi Picoult (By Any Other Name).
Closer to home, Sunderland-author Terry Deary behind the global-hit Horrible Histories discusses his first history book for adults, and there’s a world exclusive dramatic reading of The Voyage Home, the latest novel from Durham’s Booker Prize winning author, Pat Barker.
For the first time too, the festival is hosting the renowned Forward Prizes for Poetry.
Authors appearing include David Peace, Alan Hollinghurst, Jackie Kay, Andrew McMillan, Tawseef Khan, Oliver Burkeman, Kate Fox, Tom Newlands, Lucy Foley, Mathew Blake, Caryl Hart, Ibtisam Azem, Peace Adzo Medie, and Yeva Skalietska.
Take part in writing workshops or children’s story time. Gain insights on God and cosmology, history’s hidden women, or join a journalist and a refugee exploring writing in conflict. Be challenged by new narratives on the North East’s identity, as northern writers challenge stereotypes in a special commission, North East Now.
Find our full programme online here or download a PDF of our brochure. If you’d prefer a printed brochure, you can pick one up at venues across Durham.
Durham Book Festival is for everyone and accessibility is really important to us. You can find the access statements of our venues here. In addition:
- All events at Gala Durham will be live-captioned by Stagetext
- Can’t make it to Durham? Let the festival come to you. All Gala Durham events will be available to livestream for just £5 per household.
We hope you can join us!
Durham Book Festival is a Durham County Council event, produced by New Writing North with support from Durham University and Arts Council England.