The Bath Literature Festival returns for 2025 for its 30th edition, with talks on a variety of books and subjects running from the 17th - 25th May. Epigram has all the details here:
The Bath Literature Festival (running concurrently with the Bath Music Festival) offers a chance to hear nine days of talks from award winning authors on everything from memoirs to novels on crime, fantasy and history, as well as non-fiction tackling questions on equality of the law, climate change and politics, alongside calmer tales of travel and nature. Their talks allow an exploration of their lives and experiences, and how they relate to the books they have written.
The authors speaking as are varied as their books, ranging from veteran writers to first time authors in the public eye for other work, such as:
- Journalist and presenter Reeta Chakrabarti, and her novel Finding Belle
- Politicians Sir Graham Brady (former Chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee) and Sayeeda Warsi (the first Muslim cabinet minister), both recounting their respective experiences in government with Kingmaker and Muslims Don’t Matter
- Comedians and Taskmaster contestants Ivo Graham and David Baddiel, with their respective memoirs A Yardstick For Failure and My Family
- Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones with her novel, By Your Side
- The sportsmen (incl. Mike Tindall) behind the podcast The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby
- Countdown Dictionary Corner’s Susie Dent and her debut novel, Guilty By Definition
- Author of the recently adapted Sweetpea, CJ Skus
The talks all take place in venues in the historic city centre, within ten minutes’ walk of Bath Spa station, with tickets available either online or in person at the Forum Cinema.
Tickets for almost all talks are priced at £10 on concession fares, which are open to all full-time students. An additional 10% of the ticket price and £1.50 booking fee are also to be paid for each order – with talks at the Forum also incurring an additional £1 venue restoration fee.
The talks are primarily in conversation events, with a series of lunchtime lectures also running throughout the festival. Running concurrently with the festival are historical walking tours (priced at £20, taking two hours each), including Well, here we are at Bath, a look at the locations that shaped Jane Austen’s time in and writing on Bath.
Speaking to Epigram’s News Investigations Editor and President of the Book Society, Sofia Lambis, I was recommended Robert MacFarlane’s talk on his book Is A River Alive. According to Lambis, MacFarlane's work explores the idea of rivers as living beings in both a legal and a philosophical sense, with the concept of ‘seeing the natural world from a different perspective’ being particularly exciting to her.
Lambis also noted that her festival experience allowed her to explore a new genre of writing – proving that even if you run the university’s premier book club, the talks on offer will cover subjects and genres are varied enough to offer something new.
The list of writers mentioned is just a taste of what is on offer. The Festival Brochure offers a full list of all authors, talks and tour - just make sure to check Bath Festival’s What’s On page to confirm if the event has been cancelled or not before booking your trip out of Bristol.
