There are literary festivals which sell books, literary festivals which parade famous names - and literary festivals which offer us a room in which to think.
If you come to Harrogate this autumn, you'll get all three.
The first headliners have been announced for the 2026 Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival, which returns to the North Yorkshire spa town from 11–25 October. And although the programme contains more than enough celebrated writers and familiar faces to fill a particularly distinguished green room, it's the subjects they are bringing with them that make this year’s early line-up so intriguing.
Ageing. Nature. Political fragmentation. Courage. Resistance. The complicated business of carrying on.
These aren't exactly peripheral concerns in Britain in 2026.
Acclaimed novelist Kate Mosse will introduce Autumn, an evocative exploration of the turning seasons that moves between memoir and nature writing.
Autumn is an especially fitting subject for a gathering taking place in Harrogate in October: a season of beauty, certainly, but also of transition, loss and preparation. In Mosse’s hands, it becomes a way of thinking about the landscapes around us and the changes taking place within our own lives.
Dame Prue Leith, meanwhile, is preparing to confront one of society’s more persistent taboos.
The broadcaster, restaurateur and writer will discuss Being Old…and Learning to Love It! - sharing her thoughts on ageing well, remaining curious and continuing to find pleasure and possibility in later life.
In a culture still preoccupied with disguising age rather than understanding it, Leith’s message feels refreshingly direct. Growing older, she suggests, is not an embarrassing decline to be endured quietly. It is life - and it may yet contain adventure, appetite and considerable joy.
Broadcaster and journalist Sophie Raworth will be the special guest at the Yorkshire Life Literary Lunch on 22 October, where she will discuss her memoir, Running on Air.
Raworth is known to millions as the composed presence delivering the news when the world appears anything but composed. Away from the studio, however, long-distance running has become an important part of her life. Her book explores endurance in both its physical and personal forms - the reasons we keep moving and what we may discover about ourselves along the way.
There'll be murder, too, although thankfully Harrogate’s long association with literary crime means nobody should be unduly alarmed.
Comedian, presenter and novelist Julian Clary will discuss his new mystery, The Midmorning Murders. It is a title that sounds reassuringly civilised for a killing - presumably leaving sufficient time for breakfast before anyone discovers the body.
The appearance of Booker Prize-winning author Sir Ben Okri promises to take the Festival into very different territory. Okri will introduce Waking the Warriors, a modern fable concerned with courage, hope and resistance.
At a moment when many people feel overwhelmed by political noise, conflict and environmental uncertainty, Okri’s work asks a more enduring question: what within us must be awakened when the world requires us to act?
Heather Morris, the internationally bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, will also join the programme to discuss her latest novel, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse. Morris has built an enormous readership through stories shaped by history, survival and the lives of people caught inside events far larger than themselves.
And because no contemporary festival would be complete without somebody attempting to explain precisely what is happening to British politics, Professor Sir John Curtice will bring his formidable analytical skills to Harrogate.
A familiar presence on election nights, Curtice will examine a political landscape that has become increasingly fragmented. At a time when old loyalties are weakening and the country’s electoral map is being redrawn, there are few people better placed to separate meaningful change from Westminster commotion.
Together, these early announcements suggest a Festival interested not simply in celebrity, but in the ways stories help us negotiate uncertainty.
That's what makes this festival special. At their best, literature festivals create something increasingly difficult to find elsewhere: unhurried public conversation. They allow an audience to spend an hour with an argument, a life or an idea without having to reduce it immediately to a slogan, clip or furious online response.
They also bring readers and writers into the same physical space. Books are often encountered privately, but festivals make reading communal. A thought formed alone at a kitchen table can travel through a packed room and become part of a much wider conversation.
“We are proud to be the sponsors of this world-class Festival, which brings the power of stories and the joy of storytelling to Harrogate,” says Rachel Tunnicliffe, Senior Partner at Raworths Solicitors.
“Once again there is a whole host of big names and bestselling authors coming to our town, and we can’t wait for what promises to be a memorable Festival this autumn.”
Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, says the names revealed so far represent only the beginning.
“This year’s diverse programme brings together some fabulous writers, with more big announcements still to come.”
The Festival has previously been named among the country’s leading literary gatherings, but its appeal rests partly in its atmosphere. Major writers appear in comparatively relaxed and intimate surroundings, reducing the distance between the person who wrote the book and those whose lives it may have touched.
This year, those conversations will range widely. From the turning of the natural seasons to the experience of growing old; from running through adversity to resisting despair; from fictional murder to the very real mystery of British politics.
Big names, for sure. But more importantly, some very big questions.
Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival takes place at The Crown Hotel and Cedar Court Hotel, Harrogate, from 11–25 October 2026.
Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday 19 August through the Harrogate International Festivals website or by calling the Box Office on 01423 562 303
Header image: Rachel Tunnicliffe, Senior Partner at Raworths, Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, & Simon Morris, Managing Partner at Raworths. (Richard Maude)
