Newark Book Festival 2026. Celebrating Ten Years!

Newark Book Festival 2026 marked a milestone year as we celebrated our 10th Birthday Party, welcoming readers, writers, families and creatives to Newark for four unforgettable days of books, conversation and celebration. Across 40 events in 10 venues, the festival showcased the very best in literature, creativity and community, while continuing to grow its impact both in person and online.

This special anniversary year saw the Palace Theatre become our new Festival Hub, creating a welcoming home for audiences throughout the weekend, while several new venues joined the festival programme for the first time. Festival favourites also returned, including our much-loved Literature Village, which once again transformed Newark Market Place on Sunday with independent booksellers, authors and creative traders. Saturday also saw a vibrant indoor market take over the Buttermarket, bringing even more literary experiences into the heart of the town.

Our programme featured an outstanding line-up of 74 artists, spanning crime, contemporary fiction, romance, poetry, music, art, horror, Nordic Noir and family events. Saturday evening provided two memorable headline events with bestselling thriller writer Harriet Tyce and author and musician Jay McGuiness, both drawing enthusiastic audiences as part of our birthday celebrations.

The festival also strengthened its international reputation by welcoming acclaimed Nordic Noir writers for a dedicated event, expertly hosted by Festival Director Sara Bullimore.

Our younger audiences enjoyed appearances from authors including Hannah Gold, Felicity Yeoh, Frances Stickley, Simon James Green, Chris White the Doodling Poet, a Paddington Bear bake and book workshop and a guest appearance from Peter Rabbit at Waterstones. 

Hannah Gold's schools event sold out, welcoming 465 school pupils to the festival from local schools. Other sold out highlights included the Paddington Bear workshop, Wildlife and Words workshop with Emma Oldham. Our two fringe events, Matt Haig and the Midnight Train, and the Herb Workshop all sold out too, demonstrating the growing demand for engaging literary experiences for all types of audiences to enjoy.

Developing young people remained at the heart of Newark Book Festival. Our Young Ambassadors grew in confidence throughout the festival, taking on greater responsibilities and representing the festival with professionalism and enthusiasm. This year also saw the successful launch of our new Young Ambassadors in Training programme, welcoming children under the age of seven and introducing an even younger generation to volunteering, creativity and community involvement.

Behind the scenes, the festival continued to be powered by an incredible team of volunteers, partner venues, sponsors and supporters. We were delighted to welcome many new volunteers into the festival family, while our partnership with Waterstones, our official festival bookseller, helped connect audiences with authors throughout the weekend. A professional festival photographer also captured the warmth, energy and togetherness of the celebrations, leaving us with a wonderful record of a truly special birthday year. Head to our Facebook page to see all the wonderful photographs captured. 

Alongside a vibrant festival atmosphere, Newark Book Festival continued to grow its digital reach, with 429,000 people viewing festival content online.

As we celebrated ten years of Newark Book Festival, this milestone edition demonstrated how far the festival has come. From internationally renowned authors and sold-out family events to empowered young volunteers, new partnerships and a growing national profile, the 10th Birthday Party was a huge celebration of the impact the festival has had on the local area and in spreading the joy of words from around the world.