Festival Review : Durham Book Festival 2026 (Friday 9th – Sunday 11th October)

On a bright, cool autumnal weekend in October, crowds of people from all walks of life gather to celebrate the Year of Reading and a love of stories at Durham Book Festival 2026. Stacks of colourful books await authors signing after each session, and the audience await the writer’s arrival on a stage backdrop of wooden boards, artificial grass and industrial lighting. This year’s festival highlights the voices of Northern writers, covers topics from feminism to crime to the Bishop of Durham, and straddles genres from gaming and fantasy to memoir and poetry. Here is a selection of lovely moments from a weekend of rustling pages, laughter and plenty of food for thought.

Kicking off the festival on the Friday evening was Pixie: A Tarot evening with Jill Dawson. The session was framed using tarot cards picked, or ‘drawn’ by interviewer Kim Deyn to represent different themes and ideas in the book. As a newbie to tarot, I was fascinated to hear about the life of Pamela Colman Smith, aka ‘Pixie’, an artist whose work was sidelined in favour of the male creators and publishers of the deck. This book goes some way to bringing her story back in to the light – and what a fascinating life it was. She was a member of the artworld and travelled and worked in Jamaica, Devon, London and Brooklyn. She moved in circles of radicals, queerness and seances, was a member of a secret society and knew many of the key figures of the time. I wasn’t familiar with author Jill Dawson’s work before this talk – but hope to be soon, as the subjects of her other novels sound equally engrossing; a story from the point of view of Lord Lucan’s nanny, a book about a crime writer based on Patricia Highsmith and lots more – Dawson has written 11 novels to date. First up for me is Pixie, which I’d recommend grabbing a copy of, but there are plenty more to explore if you like that one.

The plan for Saturday was wall-to-wall sessions, all on live stream. I found this to be an accessible format – with captions, the option to pause (perfect for those who can’t sit still for too long) and a replay option open until the end of the month. Also accessible on price at £5 per session. First up was Durham Crime with North East based authors Jo Murray and Rebecca Philipson. An inspirational start to the day at 10:30am – meaning I could enjoy my cuppa and toast in my pjs with a dollop of murder, serial killers and court-room drama. These writers are both women to watch, and if you don’t already know their work then you will very soon. Murray’s book Dissection of a Murder – a twisty legal thriller – has already been picked up by Apple TV for a series. Philipson’s debut novel How to Get Away with Murder was inspired by the voice of a serial killer and a ditch in rural County Durham. Both play with ideas of unreliable narrators, dark psychology and are set in the North East. It was also compelling to hear about the journeys of two women who had grown up in working-class areas of the region and took to writing in later years after careers and children.

Next up was Lucy Foley, whose novel The Hunting Party has been distributed across Durham, Sunderland and Newcastle, as part of The Big Read. Reader, I got my free copy in a Durham library. Set in a remote lodge in the Scottish Highlands this locked room mystery involves a group of friends who are all suspects when one of the party is murdered. Told from multiple perspectives with a real sense of place, Foley talked about the inspiration behind the book and how this set her up for her most recent novel Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel where she picks up the reins of murder-mystery-queen Agatha Christie. Featuring the iconic character Miss Marple this new take was commissioned by the Christie estate and is available to buy in hardback now. Eagerly anticipated by fans of Foley’s work, Agatha Christie and all who love crime mysteries, this one is top of my towering to-be-read pile – and would make a great Christmas gift as it’s available in some beautiful cover versions.

I finished up the day watching Susanna Clarke introduce her brand-new novella The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City. Set in the year 1110, in an other-worldly North East, this follows the Bishop of Durham on a quest to New Castle to appease the fairy host besieging his city. A big-name author after her award-winning novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, this story is set in the same world and couldn’t be a better fit for a book festival in the centre of Durham.

Returning in person on Sunday, I was able to soak up the bookish atmosphere with a series of talks in the Gala Durham Studio, which was packed out for the events. Starting with Life Stories with Louise Doughty (of Apple Tree Yard fame) and Nicola Wilding (Cumbrian documentary filmmaker). Both women were talking about their debut memoirs which use family stories, photos and letters to tell the true stories of love affairs, secrets – and in Wilding’s ‘These Wild English’ politics – in the family. I particularly found Louise Doughty’s reading from On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love moving and it made me want to hear more. The emotions really resonated with the audience, and it was a compelling glimpse of the experience of writing about real people, people close to you, and the process of finding out family history and honouring the memory of dead parents.

Next up was Sleep Stories: Romalyn Ante, Naomi Booth and Sarah Hall with extracts from their specially commissioned short stories, available as a podcast exploring the contemporary sleep crisis. The stories feature the experience of women and the impact that new motherhood, caregiving and travel can have on sleep. Booth is a professor of Creative Writing at Durham University and has written a short-story collection Animals at Night that explores nocturnal moments – it was good to hear some of her writing and I’d be tempted to look at her novel Raw Content, which talks about the experience of new motherhood. Sarah Hall is from Cumbria and her writing is deeply rooted in place – she plays with language and description both in her short story and in her 2026 novel, Helm, which she read from. Romalyn Ante joined us online and it was interesting to hear her perspective as a former NHS mental health nurse, which is reflected in her short story as well as her debut novel, The Left-Behind Child.

Last but definitely not least was Folklore Across Forms where a trio of women writers explored the mythology of the British Isles through stories of witch trials, legends of King Arthur and traditional oral folktales written down and illustrated. The two Amy’s brought different perspectives – Dr Amy Jeffs re-examines Arthurian legend through a research lens using ancient manuscripts for inspiration in her new novel Arthur: A New Life. Aimee MacDonald (a Durham based Scottish writer) takes the legend of Kate McNiven from her home town of Crieff, to tell an eerie, dual timeline, body horror story that contrasts women’s experience in the 21st Century and 18th Century. I snapped up a beautiful copy of ‘Seasonal Folktales’ by Morvern Graham, a Scottish visual artist raised on tales of fairy trees and protection of nature. A glorious seasonal read awaits.

As both a reader and a wannabe writer, from a working-class background, born and bred in Durham, I found much to inspire, excite and dwell on in this year’s Durham Book Festival line-up. There are plenty of opportunities to explore the books, short stories, podcasts and print (there was a print version of working-class magazine The Bee available) after the festival – with several online and free – so if this has sparked your interest in reading (the idea behind the Year of Reading) then do check out New Writing North’s website. While you’re at it, save the date for next year’s festival, as it’s sure to be an autumnal cultural highlight that you’ll want to return to.