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SUMMARY:Wantage Literary Festival 2026
DESCRIPTION:Wantage Literary Festival\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Wantage Literary Festival 2026\n\n\n\nThis autumn\, the market town of Wantage once again becomes a meeting place for writers\, historians\, journalists\, artists\, musicians and curious readers as the Wantage Literary Festival returns for its 16th year. \n\n\n\nRunning from Monday 26 October to Saturday 07 November\, the 2026 festival brings together an eclectic programme of talks\, conversations\, performances and family events\, with subjects ranging from poetry and politics to art\, science\, history and the natural world. \n\n\n\nAmong this year’s guests are acclaimed writers and broadcasters including Victoria Hislop\, Jasper Fforde\, Alan Johnson\, Stephen Sackur and Janina Ramirez\, alongside historians\, artists\, scientists\, journalists and specialists exploring everything from the history of the World Cup and ancient Mesopotamia to climate change\, British waterways and the future of space exploration. \n\n\n\nThe festival also has plenty of room for the unexpected. There are ghost walks through Wantage\, a piano recital of Schubert\, an evening of sea shanties and a walking tour exploring the town’s Anglo-Saxon history. Families can join a free Wind in the Willows day\, while aspiring authors can pick up practical advice on self-publishing. \n\n\n\nAt the heart of the 2026 programme is the Big Town Read\, with Simon Mason’s The Dangerous Stranger bringing readers together to explore the dark secrets and buried crimes at the centre of his novel. \n\n\n\nWith events spread across Wantage and a programme that moves easily between serious ideas\, lively conversation\, performance and entertainment\, the festival offers a chance to discover something new — whether your interests lie in literature\, history\, politics\, art\, science or simply a good story. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe 2026 line-up\n\n\n\nMonday 26 October\n\n\n\n12.00pm — Bernard O’Donoghue and Esther Lay: Talking Poetry1.30pm — Bernard O’Donoghue: The Poems of Seamus Heaney3.00pm — Jonathan Wilson: The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup7.00pm — Professor David Wilson: A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders \n\n\n\nTuesday 27 October\n\n\n\n11.00am — Christina Strang: Graphologist1.00pm — Alexandra Loske: The Artist’s Palette: The Palettes Behind the Paintings of 50 Great Artists2.00pm — Victoria Hislop: The Wine-Dark Sea4.00pm — Rob Stepney and Kathy Clugston: Good Occasionally Rhyming: A Celebration of the Shipping Forecast in Poetry and Prose8.00pm — Mike White: Ghost Walk\, Wantage Town — Sold out \n\n\n\nWednesday 28 October\n\n\n\n10.00am or 1.00pm — Free family event: Wind in the Willows Family Day12.00pm — Rod Craig and Peter Adamson: Blenheim: Reflections in Paint and Poetry2.00pm — Miranda Seymour: I\, Vera: The Many Lives of Vera Gedroits\, a Radical Princess3.15pm — Victoria Wright: The Health Rebels Almanac: Seasonal Wisdom and Modern Science for Women Who Want to Reclaim Their Health Naturally6.30pm — Maria Razumovskaya: Piano Recital: Schubert \n\n\n\nThursday 29 October\n\n\n\n12.00pm — Nicola Moorby: Turner and Constable: Art\, Life\, Landscape2.00pm — Daniel Stables: Fiesta: A Journey Through Festivity3.00pm — Hamish de Bretton-Gordon: Tank Command: How the Tank Changed the Face of Battle4.00pm — Jack Perks: The Great British River: A Guide to Our Waterways and River Wildlife6.00pm — The Big Town Read: Simon Mason\, The Dangerous Stranger: Dark Secrets. Buried Crimes \n\n\n\nFriday 30 October\n\n\n\n10.00am — Moudhy Al-Rashid: Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History12.00pm — Charlotte Mullins: The Art Isles: A 15\,000-Year Story of Art in Britain and Ireland2.00pm — Alexander Ballinger: Phyllis Dalton: A Career in Costume4.00pm — Jasper Fforde: Dark Reading Matter: A Last Thursday Novel5.30pm — Alan Johnson: Biography of Harold Wilson: 20th Century Man \n\n\n\nSaturday 31 October\n\n\n\n12.00pm — Catherine Edwards: Orator: The Life of Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic1.15pm — Adam Hart: Operation Pimento: My Great-Grandfather’s Great Escape2.00pm — Peter Cardwell: Political Animals3.15pm — Debbie Kilroy: Members Behaving Badly: A History of Britain in 52 Parliamentary Rogues4.00pm — Chris Lintott: Beyond Artemis II7.00pm — Monkeyfists: Sea Shanties with Your Local Landlocked Shanty Band \n\n\n\nSunday 01 November\n\n\n\n11.00am — James Mitchell: A Short Walking Tour Through the Anglo-Saxon History of Wantage \n\n\n\nWednesday 04 November\n\n\n\n7.00pm — Free event: Debbie Reiber and Mike White: Practical Tips to Self-Publishing \n\n\n\nThursday 05 November\n\n\n\n1.30pm — Free event: Suzie Tilbury and The Sheep Pens: Timelines \n\n\n\nSaturday 07 November\n\n\n\n2.00pm — Janina Ramirez: Legenda: The Real Women Behind the Myths that Shaped Europe2.15pm — Arthur Snell: Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change3.30pm — Dominic Gregory: Lifeboat at the End of the World: A Volunteer’s Story4.00pm — Stephen Sackur: Hard Truth: 10 Investigations That Shook the World and Why They Matter Now6.00pm — Andrew Lownie: Entitled: The Fall of the House of York \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRead more about Wantage Literary Festival\n\n\n\n Festivals & Fairs\nWantage Literary Festival 2026\n\n Community & Charity\nPersimmon Homes supports Wantage youth centre with £1\,000 donation\n\n Arts & Culture\nLocal developer Persimmon Homes supports Wantage Literary Festival
URL:https://theoxfordmagazine.com/event/wantage-literary-festival/
LOCATION:The Beacon\, Wantage\, Portway\, Wantage\, Oxfordshire\, OX12 9BX
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