The Lake District Book Festival

07/06/2026

This event on Friday 12th June at the inaugural festival has proved extremely popular. It features Jon Lee Anderson (To Lose a War) and Lyse Doucet (The Finest Hotel in Kabul) with Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 in the chair.

Today we are happy to announce that we have released more tickets - since the first wave was gobbled up.

We look forward to seeing you at Cartmel Racecourse next weekend.

Tickets can be bought at www.lakedistrictbookfestival.co.uk

05/06/2026

Meet the food traders 2.0.

We are so proud to announce the rest of the amazing food traders who will be joining us at the Lake District Book Festival 2026.

Read their bios for more info.

🎪 Cartmel Racecourse
12th-14th June 2026

1 week to go!

03/06/2026

We were delighted to receive this endorsement from Rory Stewart, one of our earliest adopters and star of the opening political debate on Friday 12th June. Thank you and look forward to seeing you in your old stomping ground very soon.

01/06/2026

Excitement is building for The Lake District Book Festival with a multitude of rich and varied talks to look forward to:
- Rory Stewart with Matt Frei will be a particular highlight (now sold out).
- Michael Heseltine talking to his daughter Annabel.
- Kate Summerscale & Hallie Rubenhold on true crime.
- Jane Horrocks in conversation with Christine Cort about This Creative Life.

Plus many more. Tickets on sale now.
www.lakedistrictbookfestival.co.uk

30/05/2026

From the urgent to the esoteric, from the painful past to magical possibilities for the future, the 4.15 at Cartmel presents four very different voices with four very different stories to tell.

will be joined by:




Tickets for the 4.15 @ Cartmel on Saturday 13th June on sale now.

28/05/2026

Here is a sun-spangled glimpse of Cartmel Racecourse doing its day job - delighting thousands of visitors from across the northwest with a feast of colour and joy. Two weeks from today, The Lake District Book Festival will be jumping out of the stalls and into this wonderful lake district landscape.

'reoff


Cartmel Racecourse
Holker Hall & Gardens
St Mary's Hospice

26/05/2026

In a world that currently seems to have too many hard edges, the Lake District Book Festival is delighted to present fiction, poetry & pop culture - escapism in beautiful form...

16/03/2025

A great interview by Rebecca Kesby of Christopher de Bellaigue on the Sunday morning show on the BBC World Service. Besides talking earlier in the show about his journalism and his latest historical epic, Christopher waxing lyrical about what a good book festival can lead to and how important such person-to-person events are in a digital age.

Sanjoy Roy (of Jaipur Literature Festival fame) then talking about what makes a good festival and commending the choice of the Lake District as a location.

Christopher responding with the suggestion of a wild synchronised swim as a Lake District Book Festival finale....

Starts at 26:58. Ends 37:18

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172zcxhkx42pj8

Cartmel Racecourse

15/03/2025

In case there are any BBC World Service listeners among our hearty band of followers, do tune in tomorrow Sunday 16th March at 8.30 to hear Christopher de Bellaigue (Lake District Book Festival Director) giving a big plug to the festival.

Christopher is also talking earlier in the programme about his recent visit to Brazil and about the publication of The Golden Throne, the second part of his Suleyman the Magnificent trilogy, which came out last week.

28/02/2025

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/27/the-golden-throne-by-christopher-de-bellaigue-review-suleyman-returns?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

On Thursday 6th March (world book day), Christopher de Bellaigue's latest epic chapter in the life of Suleyman the Magnificent bounces into the bookshops. 'Wolf Hall - with eunuchs' says The Guardian.

Christopher is director of the Lake District Book Festival.

A new instalment of the extraordinary and brutal story of the greatest Ottoman sultan reads like a thrilling novel