Bath Literature Festival announces lineup for 30th anniversary edition

Bath Literature Festival is celebrating its 30th birthday with an extra-special line-up including Ruth Jones, Ben Okri, Carol Klein, Lionel Shriver, Jeremy Vine, David Baddiel, Sayeeda Warsi, Joanne Harris, Martin Clunes, Robert Macfarlane, Rev Richard Coles, Jojo Moyes, Emma Barnett, Max Hastings, Ivo Graham, Alan Johnson, Kit de Waal, Mike Tindall and Reeta Chakrabarti.

Bath Literature Festival will run in tandem with Bath Music Festival over nine days, from Saturday 17 May to Sunday 25 May 2025, run by Bath Festivals. Bath Festivals, a registered charity, has been bringing live arts events to the city for more than seven decades.

Tickets go on general sale from 10am on Friday 28 February. Visit Bath Festivals’ website for full details of this year’s programme.

Image: Ruth Jones, Jojo Moyes, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, and David Baddiel 

Get your tickets
Book tickets online at: https://bathfestivals.org.uk/the-bath-festival/whats-on/

Or by phone, 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, on 01225 463362.

And in person during those hours at Bath Box Office counter at 1A Forum Buildings, St James’ Parade, Bath BA1 1UG.

A diverse festival

Devised and curated by Festival Director John McLay and Guest Curator Joe Haddow from BBC Radio 2 Book Club, this year’s festival is a joyous celebration of books, ideas and creativity, welcoming speakers on poetry, gardening, art, animals, exploration, nature, politics, history, humour, memoir and, because of its special place in Bath’s heart, rugby!  

A varied programme

Multi-million bestsellers, the authors you read on holiday, at book clubs and for sheer page-turning pleasure.

• Ruth Jones, actor and writer, joint creator of the TV favourite Gavin and Stacey, will be talking about her new novel, By Your Side – and lots more.
• Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, the book that won so many hearts and became a smash-hit film, returns to her heroine’s life in a charming prequel, Vianne.
• Jojo Moyes will be talking about her latest novel We All Live Here, a moving exploration of family, love and starting again.

Experts in their field

Hear first-hand, unfiltered by social media or commentators, from social scientists, activists, politicians, art historians and biographers.

• Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was Britain’s first Muslim Cabinet member and is a fearless, forthright speaker on race and community.
• Prize winning nature writer Robert Macfarlane asks Is A River Alive? as he considers the future of our most precious natural resource.
• Journalist and historian Max Hastings tells the story of D-Day as it has never been told before.
• Sir Graham Brady served as an MP and as Chairman of the Conservative Party's 1922 committee under five Prime Ministers seeing everything but saying nothing - until now.

Crime time

For readers who love to get their pulses racing with twisty plots, engaging characters and a rising body count.

• Ann Cleeves, the writer behind the Vera Stanhope series (as played onscreen by Brenda Blethyn), unveils her latest in the series.
• Festival favourite and former MP Alan Johnson will be unearthing more cases for Louise Mangan in Death on the Thames.
• Murder mystery writer Lucy Foley (The Guest List, The Hunting Party) brings us a fresh thriller, The Midnight Feast.
• The nation’s favourite clergyman, the Rev Richard Coles, continues his successful career as a cosy crime writer, with the newest title in his Canon Clements series, A Death on Location.
• Chris Chibnall, the multi-award winning writer of Broadchurch, The Great Train Robbery, Doctor Who and Life on Mars, will be showcasing his crime fiction debut, Death at the White Hart.

Familiar faces

The festival looks forward to welcoming comedians, journalists and politicians who have forged new careers as writers.

• Journalists Reeta Chakrabarti and Jeremy Vine will both be unveiling debut novels.
• Actor Martin Clunes will be talking about humankind’s special relationship with animals.
• Gardeners’ World plantswoman Carol Klein, comedian/author David Baddiel and presenter Nicki Chapman bring us their memoirs.
• From the world of the rugby podcast, The Big, the Bad and the Rugby comes a live show with Mike Tindall, James Haskell and Alex Payne.
• BBC Radio 4’s Emma Barnett is joining us to talk about motherhood and maternity leave, while BBC Radio 6 presenter and music buff Stuart Maconie will dig deep into the scene surrounding The Beatles.

With more than 50 events to choose from, including the chance to meet your favourite authors face to face, Bath Literature Festival’s 30th birthday promises to be delightfully memorable. Join in this May, and follow the story on social media, using the hashtag #BathLovesBooks.