Leeds Lit Fest 2026: 6th to 14th June

Leeds Lit Fest is back! Returning for its eighth year, the award-winning festival of words and thought will take place across a variety of Leeds’ creative spaces and aims to bring belonging and community to the city’s literary scene with writers, poets and performers from both near and far.

Festival organisers are delighted by the support they have received over the last seven years and aim to make this year’s festival bigger than before, with famous names and a packed schedule with all things literary in mind and more!

The team will be joined by talented writers, poets and performers from Leeds and the West Yorkshire region, and from further afield.

Joe Williams, writer, poet and member of the Leeds Lit Fest Steering Group, said: “Leeds Lit Fest is community-focused, and anyone can take part. We’ve had loads of submissions to be part of this year’s programme with a wide and diverse range of people wanting to get involved.

“There’ll be open mics, workshops, storytelling, poetry, author events and lots of fun stuff. We can’t wait to tell everyone about it.”

Leeds Lit Fest organisers are urging newcomers and seasoned festival-goers to save the dates – Saturday 6 – Sunday 14 June – and join the city in celebrating the richness and diversity of its literary culture.

As a registered Community Interest Company (CIC), Leeds Lit Fest is continuing to reach out to attract partnerships, sponsorships, grants, donations and collaborations with schools, businesses, trusts and foundations, as well as organising its own fundraising events. It is a volunteer run organisation and its annual Festival programme continues to be staged without significant local or national funding.

Speaking at the recent Leeds Lit Fest open mic fundraiser at Hyde Park Book Club, visual storyteller, Luke Walwyn said, “I really appreciated the level of talent on show. Everyone – from first timers to more experienced poets – shared something genuinely personal and distinctive. It was a generous space to connect with fellow creatives, to listen, and to feel inspired. I’m very much looking forward to their next event and I hope they raise a lot of money for the Festival.”

Fiona Gell, director of Leeds Lit Fest CIC, encouraged literature lovers to support the Festival. She said, “Leeds Lit Fest’s annual programme is a highlight of Leeds’ cultural calendar. We’re always excited to showcase and support the rich writing talent that is in the city and to bring new voices, ideas and creativity to Leeds. In this National Year of Reading, it is a great opportunity to connect readers of all ages even more closely with writers, poets, storytellers and performers.

She continued, “However, we need help to do this. We are a volunteer run organisation and get little external funding. We have a very “can do” attitude, we work extremely hard to make what resources we do have go as far as possible and passionately believe in supporting our local talent. We have set up a GoFundMe page for Leeds Lit Fest and will be continuing with our fundraising events in the lead up to the Festival. If you can help us with a small donation, we would be very grateful or if you would like to sponsor an event please get in touch!”

Book lovers

If you're a book lover and can't wait until June, Yorkshire Businesswoman are hosting our Novel Lunch on 6th May at Harrogate Cedar Court Hotel with host and best selling authors Milly Johnson and Jane Costello from 12 noon. Tickets are just £55 and can be booked here on our website https://yorkshirebusinesswoman.co.uk/join-us-for-a-novel-lunch-2026-05-06/