Bridport Literary Festival | Saturday 14 November
Event Details
The 22nd Bridport Literary Festival 2026 is Saturday 7 – Saturday 14 November and will bring a varied and exciting programme of events to lighten the dark days of Winter. A true celebration for all those who read books and love literature.
Day Eight: Saturday 14 November
Event 60 | Cathy Rentzenbrink | The Agatha Christie Cure
10.30am at The Bull Hotel, 34 East Street, Bridport DT6 3LF
Tickets: £12.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online via our Ticket Page
Cathy Rentzenbrink fell in love with Agatha Christie’s novels aged nine, after her grandmother paid her 10p for every mystery she finished. It turned her into an avid reader, but soon she left the Queen of Crime behind.
Only when she was facing the end of her marriage, did she turn once more to Christie’s books, discovering in them the comfort and emotional support she craved. She talks to Lucy Brazier about the healing power of our greatest crime writer.
Cathy Rentzenbrink worked as a bookseller and as an editor at the Bookseller, before becoming the bestselling author of The Last Act of Love and many other titles.
Event 61 | Tony Parsons | Man & Dog: A Love Story
12noon at The Electric Palace, 35 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NY
Tickets: £16.50 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Electric Palace
“Nobody will ever love you like a dogˮ: Tony Parsons wrote a newspaper column about the loss of his beloved spaniel, Stan, a bandy-legged bundle of joy, loyalty and bright red fur, the story went viral on the internet.
Now it has inspired this deeply affecting and very funny memoir. Set against the backdrop of Tony’s life in Hampstead and daily walks across the Heath – with its rolling hills, ponds and cast of star-studded, dog-walking neighbours – Man and Dog brilliantly brings to life the eternal love affair between humans and their canine companions. He talks to Jo Willett. Tony Parsons is an award-winning journalist and bestselling novelist. His multimillion selling novel Man and Boy won the British Book of the Year prize in 2000.
Event 62 | Rebecca Perry | May We Feed The King
12noon at The Bull Hotel, 34 East Street, Bridport DT6 3LF
Tickets: £12.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online via our Ticket Page
Winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 and longlisted for the Booker Prize, Rebecca Perry is an impressively original new voice.
An intricate exploration of how we construct history, May We Feed the King tells the story of a 21st-century curator at a medieval palace who is drawn deeper and deeper into the life of its former occupants, a reluctant ruler and the courtiers who scheme to replace him.
Why is she turning to the past to hide from her present? And what drives a monarch to risk the future of their kingdom? This playful meditation on history and storytelling has become one of the most talked about novels of the year. Chaired by Adrian Turpin.
Event 63 | Zakia Sewell | Finding Albion
1.30pm at Bridport Arts Centre, 9 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NR
Tickets: £12.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Bridport Arts Centre
Zakia Sewell is on a quest for another Britain. Criss-crossing our island, the acclaimed broadcaster is seeking out a story that transcends divisive national myths and symbols. It’s to be found in otherworldly folk songs, ancient legends, Celtic rites and the stone circles punctuating our landscape.
Her journey begins at the spring equinox in Glastonbury, where she meets neopagans reclaiming pre-Christian traditions. At Notting Hill Carnival, she hears cultural echoes passed along the slave routes from the Caribbean, and in a Cornish winter she asks if today’s new folk revival could unite a divided country. How might a mythical past inspire a brighter national future? Women’s Prize longlisted.
Event 64 | Paul Mason | Reds: A Global History of Communism
3pm at Bridport Arts Centre, 9 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NR
Tickets: £14.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Bridport Arts Centre
Reds traces the history of communist ideas through the ancient world, and chronicles the rise of 19th-century anti-capitalist movements. Crucially, it asks how the idealism of millions led to mass murder and repression.
Using testimonies from perpetrators and victims, Mason offers a terrifying account of how a 20th-century political experiment became a totalitarian nightmare. He also has a warning for the present. Western democracies lack
self-belief: millions in the global south see China’s authoritarian development model as a viable alternative. Is history destined to repeat itself?
Event 65 | Sarah Raven | A Year of Cut Flowers
4.30pm at The Electric Palace, 35 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NY
Tickets: £16.50 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Electric Palace
Teacher, broadcaster and nurserywoman, Sarah Raven is a pioneer of productive, beautiful gardening. Drawing on decades of experimentation at Perch Hill, she has transformed how we think about growing flowers and food together.
Sarah shares the secrets behind year-round success, from sowing and selecting highperforming plants to designing gardens that overflow with scent, structure and seasonal interest. Join her for an inspiring and informative session that will change the way you garden, whether your patch is a windowsill or an acre – and send you home brimming with ideas.
Event 66 | Tom Cox | Everything Will Swallow You
4.30pm at The Bull Hotel, 34 East Street, Bridport DT6 3LF
Tickets: £12.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online via our Ticket Page
Eric and Carl live in Dorset in a small white cottage under the shadow of a cliff. Eric sells old records. Carl – who one might easily mistake for a dog – cooks, cleans and crochets. Tom Cox’s third novel is the story of their friendship. Wandering through south-west England, they encounter local folklore and hints of a looming apocalypse.
All the while, Carl’s true nature remains a closely guarded secret.
One of our most original novelists talks to Joanna Quinn about landscape, love and the lore of the land. He’ll also read from his new short-story collection.
Tom Cox’s 16 books include Villager, the Sunday Times bestseller The Good, The Bad and the Furry and the Wainwright Prize-longlisted 21st Century Yokel.
Event 67 | Jonathan Freedland | The Traitors Circle
6.30pm at The Electric Palace, 35 South Street, Bridport DT6 3NY
Tickets: £16.50 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online Electric Palace
Berlin, 1943. A group of highsociety anti-Nazi dissenters gather for a tea party one late summer afternoon. They form a circle of unlikely rebels, drawn from Germany’s elite: two countesses, a diplomat, an intelligence officer and a pioneering headmistress. What they don’t know is that someone at the table is poised to reveal their secrets to the Third Reich’s most ruthless detective.
Award-winning author Jonathan Freedland discusses his remarkable study of heroism. He asks a timely question: what does it take to risk everything and stand up to tyranny?
Event 68 | The Bookshop Band | Folklore
8pm at Oxenbury’s Yard, Gundry Lane, Bridport DT6 3RL
Tickets: £15.00 from Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online via our Ticket Page
Join us for an end-of-festival celebration with Beth Porter and Ben Please of The Bookshop Band.
Since they began playing at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, the playful folk duo have released 13 book-inspired albums, collaborating with more than 100 authors including Philip Pullman, Rachel Joyce, Robert Macfarlane and Margaret Attwood, who has described their work as “an inspirationˮ.
Their most recent album, Emerge, Return and an EP of three songs about the infamous Oz magazine have been produced by Pete Townsend of The Who. They’ll be loosely exploring one of the themes of this year’s festival, our shared folklore.
“Achingly goodˮ, New York Times. “Just delightfulˮ, BBC Radio 2.
More information about the festival can be found at http://www.bridlit.com