What’s On

Explore our events, celebrating writing at its best all year round.

All Events Spring Festival 2026 One-Off Events Schools Events Children's Events
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61 events

Fri 20 Feb 2026

Headshot of author Elys Dolan

FREE Storytime with Elys Dolan at Cambridge Central Library

Fri 6 Mar 2026

Louise Kennedy headshot and Trespasses book cover

Louise Kennedy | Trespasses

Wed 18 Mar 2026

Headshot of Ali Smith with the book cover of her new book Glyph

Ali Smith | Glyph
Jill Dawson with the cover of her new book Pixie

Jill Dawson | Pixie

Wed 22 Apr 2026

Headshot of Andrew Miller

Andrew Miller | The Land in Winter
Headshot of Frances Wilson

Frances Wilson | Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark

Thu 23 Apr 2026

Headshot of Mary Berry outside in a garden

Mary Berry | My Gardening Life
Harriet Tyce headshot

Literary Lunch with Harriet Tyce
Headshot of Ed Davey MP.

Ed Davey | Why I Care and Why Care Matters
Headshot of Giulia Enders

Giulia Enders | Organ Speak: What It Really Means to Listen to Our Bodies
Martin Bond

Martin Bond | A Cambridge Diary
Headshot of Sarah Raven

Sarah Raven | A Year of Cut Flowers: a life of growing and arranging for all seasons
Headshot of Sophie Harman

Sophie Harman | Sick of It: the global fight for women’s health
Red image with yellow text reading 'AI Novel Writing Software'

AI and the Novel
Headshot of Edward Stourton

Edward Stourton | Made in America: the dark history that led to Donald Trump
Headshot of Margaret Drabble

Margaret Drabble | The Books That Made Me

Fri 24 Apr 2026

Thant-Myint-U headshot

Thant Myint-U | Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations, and the Untold Story of the 1960s
Callum Cant and Matthew Lee

Callum Cant & Matthew Lee | The 1926 General Strike
Sarah Perry headshot

Sarah Perry | Death of an Ordinary Man
Sophie Raworth headshot

Sophie Raworth | Running on Air: From headlines to finish lines
Headshot of Caroline Lucas with the text 'Lecture: The State of Nature' on a blue background.

Caroline Lucas | Lecture: The State of Nature
Cambridge Series: James Fox

James Fox | Craftland
Lucy Ash headshot

Lucy Ash | Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin
Headshot of Alan Hollinghurst

Alan Hollinghurst | The Books That Made Me
John Kampfner headshot

John Kampfner | Braver New World: the countries daring to do what others won’t
Harry Baker headshot

Harry Baker | Tender: 100 poems for the first 100 days of life

Sat 25 Apr 2026

Tim Minshall headshot

Tim Minshall | Your Life is Manufactured
Headshot of James Geary

James Geary | The World in a Phrase: a brief history of the aphorism
Louie Stowell headshot

Louie Stowell | Loki Live! A Bad God’s Guide to Causing Chaos
Author Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Rashmi Sirdeshpande | Super Uma
Rachel Clarke headshot

Rachel Clarke | Lecture: The State of the Nation
Collage image of authors Margaret Busby, Sam Leith, and Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed, Sam Leith & Margaret Busby | Writers on Reading
Author Greg Doran leaning on a table with a skull ornament, which is labelled

Greg Doran | Love, Loss and Shakespeare
Headshot of Catherine Carr

Catherine Carr | Who’s the Favourite? The loving, messy realities of sibling relationships
Nick Butterworth headshot

Nick Butterworth | Percy the Park Keeper! Stories from the Park
Mike Rampton

Mike Rampton | Become a Genius
Headshot of Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed | A Hard Day’s Night
A broken image of a Union Jack flag with the Houses of Parliament in shards behind it

New Statesman Debate | This house believes that Britain’s best days are behind it
Headshot of author Stephen Grosz

Stephen Grosz | Love’s Labour
Headshot of John Lanchester lowering his glasses and peering over them

John Lanchester | Look What You Made Me Do
Headshot of Margaret Busby

Margaret Busby | Part of the Story – writings from half a century
Headshot of author Steve Richards

Steve Richards | Rock ‘n Roll Politics
Headshot of Merlin Holland

Merlin Holland | After Oscar: the legacy of a scandal
Headshot of Yasmin Khan

Yasmin Khan | Sabzi: fresh vegetarian recipes for every day

Sun 26 Apr 2026

Headshot of Cressida Cowell

Cressida Cowell | Which Way to the Future
Book cover of Lolly Willowes with headshots of Harriet Baker, Alex Clark and Peter Swaab

Harriet Baker, Alex Clark & Peter Swaab | Lolly Willowes at 100
breakfast with the editors

Breakfast with the Editors | Ailbhe Rea, Ethan Croft, Megan Kenyon & Anoosh Chakelian
Headshot of Lord Nicholas Stern

Lord Nicholas Stern | The Growth Story of the 21st Century: the economics and opportunity of climate action
Headshot of Wayne McGregor

Wayne McGregor | We Are Movement
Headshot of Athena Kugblenu

Athena Kugblenu | History’s Most Epic Fails
Headshot of Clare Jackson

Clare Jackson | The Mirror of Great Britain
Headshot of Jude Simpson

Jude Simpson | A Noise Annoys Show
Deborah Levy headshot

Deborah Levy | Room of One’s Own Lecture
Headshot of Rose George

Rose George | Every Last Fish: what fish do for us and what we do to them
Headshot of Jung Chang

Jung Chang | Fly, Wild Swans: my mother, myself and China
Headshot of James Macintyre

James Macintyre | Gordon Brown: power with purpose
Photos of three debut novelists taking part in the Observer's panel

The Observer’s Debut Novelists 2026
Headshot of Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak | The Books That Made Me
A book cover image in black and white with red text for Agatha Christie's The Witness and the Prosecution book, along with images of three speakers for the event.

Julius Green, Sophie Hannah & Kate Rhodes | Agatha Christie Anniversary
Headshots of Francesca Wade and Deborah Levy

Francesca Wade & Deborah Levy on Gertrude Stein
Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith | Dead and Alive