Stroud Book Festival runs 4 to 8 November, most talks £14. Matt Haig, Mark Haddon, Jacqueline Wilson and Sophie Raworth, and which events have sold out.

The Stroud Book Festival runs from Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November 2026, its tenth year. Most adult events are £14, children’s events £7 to £9, and tickets are on sale now through the Sub Rooms box office. The biggest names are Matt Haig and Mark Haddon on Saturday 7 November and Jacqueline Wilson on the Sunday morning.

The quick answer

  • Dates: Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November 2026, with most events on the Saturday and Sunday
  • Where: the Sub Rooms on George Street, Lansdown Hall, St Laurence Church and the Museum in the Park, plus one event each at the Painswick Centre, the Trinity Rooms and Stroud Library
  • Prices: £14 for most adult talks, £7 or £9 for children’s events, £20 for the finale
  • Tickets: online at thesubrooms.co.uk, by phone on 01453 796880, or in person at the Sub Rooms box office, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm
  • Already sold out: Maggie O’Farrell’s early event on 10 October, and Hollie McNish on Friday 6 November

That is from the festival’s own programme and its 2026 brochure, and the sold-out status is from the Sub Rooms’ own event pages, checked on 30 September 2026. (Stroud Book Festival, 2026 events)

How to buy tickets

Unless an event says otherwise, every ticket is sold by the Sub Rooms, which put them on sale on Friday 11 September. You can book online, call the box office on 01453 796880 or go in person to the Sub Rooms, George Street, GL5 1AE. The box office is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, so a Sunday or Monday phone call will not get through. (Stroud Book Festival brochure 2026)

Four events are sold elsewhere, and the brochure says so on each:

  • Keith Brymer Jones at the Painswick Centre: through First Thursday Painswick
  • John Ingledew at the Trinity Rooms: through Quickthorn Books
  • Stroud Short Stories and the Laurie Lee Prize at Lansdown Hall: through Lansdown Hall. Short Stories tickets go on sale on Friday 9 October; the prize evening is free but you still need a ticket.

Wednesday 4 November

  • Rewild Your Reading, 7.30pm to 9pm, the Sub Rooms, £14. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Ann Morgan and Sarah Shaffi on getting out of a reading rut (Sub Rooms).

Thursday 5 November

  • Tansy E Hoskins, Charity Shop World, 6pm to 7pm, Lansdown Hall, £14
  • Paul Mason, Reds: A Global History of Communism, 6.30pm to 7.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Keith Brymer Jones, Firing Earth, 7.30pm to 8.30pm, the Painswick Centre, £14. The Great Pottery Throwdown judge on the history of ceramics, with First Thursday Painswick
  • Kate Riordan and Sam Steele, Bringing Up the Bodies, 8pm to 9pm, Lansdown Hall, £14. Riordan’s novel is set in the Stroud valleys
  • A K Blakemore, Doom Painting, 8.30pm to 9.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)

Friday 6 November

  • Arifa Akbar and Dan Richards, Because the Night, 6pm to 7pm, Lansdown Hall, £14
  • Sophie Raworth, Running on Air, 6.30pm to 7.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Claire Fuller and Leigh Radford, Scare Stories, 8pm to 9pm, Lansdown Hall, £14
  • Hollie McNish, 8.30pm to 9.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14, ages 14 and over. Sold out.

Saturday 7 November

The busiest day, with ten adult events between noon and 9pm.

  • Rachel Morley, Church Crawling, 12pm to 1pm, St Laurence Church, £14
  • Matt Haig, The Midnight Train, 2pm to 3pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Amy Jeffs, Arthur: A New Life, 2pm to 3pm, St Laurence Church, £14
  • Daniel Hahn, If This Be Magic, 3.30pm to 4.30pm, Lansdown Hall, £14
  • Turi King and Hallie Rubenhold, DNA and Beyond, 4pm to 5pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Katie Fforde and Mark Cummings, For the Love of Stroud, 5.30pm to 6.30pm, Lansdown Hall, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Sathnam Sanghera, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud, 6pm to 7pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Future Tense: Poetry Night, 7.30pm to 9pm, Lansdown Hall, £14. Jack Cooper, Bethany Handley and Oluwaseun Olayiwola
  • John Ingledew, Inspired!, 7.30pm to 8.30pm, the Trinity Rooms, £14, tickets from Quickthorn Books
  • Mark Haddon, Leaving Home, 8pm to 9pm, the Sub Rooms, £14. His illustrated childhood memoir (Sub Rooms)

The festival also runs a Saturday Salon at the Stroud Hotel at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm; the programme does not print a price for it.

Sunday 8 November

  • Horatio Clare and Colin Grant, Migration Stories, 12.30pm to 1.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14
  • Greg Wise, Grief Talking, 2.30pm to 3.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14 (Sub Rooms)
  • Sally Hayden, This is Also a Love Story, 3pm to 4pm, Lansdown Hall, £14
  • Stephen Sackur, Hard Truth, 4.30pm to 5.30pm, the Sub Rooms, £14. The former HARDtalk presenter on ten investigations that held power to account (Sub Rooms)
  • The Laurie Lee Prize for Writing 2026, 5pm to 6pm, Lansdown Hall, free but ticketed. The winners are announced and read for the first time
  • Stroud Short Stories: The Heat is On, 7.30pm to 10pm, Lansdown Hall, £12. The brochure says it always sells out in advance; tickets from 9 October
  • Jane Austen’s Piano, 7.30pm to about 9pm, the Sub Rooms, £20. The finale: Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason with her pianist daughter Jeneba, in words and music (Sub Rooms)

Children’s events

All on the weekend, and priced lower than the adult talks.

Event When Where Price, age
Rob Biddulph, Draw with Rob Sat 7 Nov, 10am Sub Rooms £9, ages 5 to 95
Mariesa Dulak, The Ice Cream Crocodile Sat 7 Nov, 10.30am Lansdown Hall £7, ages 3 to 6
Ben Miller, The Dog Who Saved Christmas Sat 7 Nov, 12pm Lansdown Hall £7, ages 8+
Rosie Tells Tales, free storytelling Sat 7 Nov, 12.30pm and 2.30pm Stroud Library Free, ages 3 to 5, reserve a place
Ben Garrod, Zombie Worms and Blue Dragons Sat 7 Nov, 1.45pm Lansdown Hall £7, ages 7 to 97
Sita Brahmachari and Jane Ray, Patchwork Stories Sat 7 Nov, 3.30pm Museum in the Park £14, ages 6+
Sue Hendra, Supertato Silliness Sun 8 Nov, 10am Lansdown Hall £7, ages 4+
Jacqueline Wilson, Esme Pepper Sun 8 Nov, 10.30am Sub Rooms £9, ages 8+
Matt Oldfield and Seth Burkett, Football GOAT Sun 8 Nov, 11.45am Lansdown Hall £7, ages 7+
Tweedy, The Clown Who Lost His Nose Sun 8 Nov, 1.30pm Lansdown Hall £7, ages 3 to 7
Tor Freeman, Create Your Own Comic Sun 8 Nov, 3pm Museum in the Park £14, ages 8 to 14

The library storytelling has only 30 places. The brochure says to reserve by its QR code or in person at Stroud Library. There is also a free Hoppity Hill bunny trail at the Museum in the Park from Tuesday 27 October to Sunday 8 November, which covers the October half term.

Schools book separately for the Schools’ Days from Wednesday 4 to Friday 6 November, at £5 a child in person or £35 a class for the live stream.

Also on: an exhibition of book covers

Melvyn Warren-Smith’s exhibition of book covers is at the Yard Gallery, Withey’s Yard, 55 High Street, GL5 1AS, from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 November, 10am to 4pm.

Getting there and parking

The Sub Rooms, Lansdown Hall, St Laurence Church and the Trinity Rooms are all in the town centre, and the Museum in the Park is in Stratford Park, GL5 4AF. The Painswick Centre is in Painswick, so allow for the drive. Our parking in Stroud page has the tariffs for every town car park, and roadworks and travel has current closures.

Saturday 7 November is also the date of the Miserden and Wotton-under-Edge firework displays, both listed on our Stroud fireworks page, and the Stroud Remembrance Sunday services are on the morning of the festival’s last day.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Stroud Book Festival 2026?

Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November 2026. An early event with Maggie O’Farrell was on Saturday 10 October and sold out.

How much are Stroud Book Festival tickets?

Most adult events are £14. Children’s events are £7 or £9, apart from two museum workshops at £14. The finale, Jane Austen’s Piano, is £20, and Stroud Short Stories is £12.

Where do you buy tickets for the Stroud Book Festival?

From the Sub Rooms: online at thesubrooms.co.uk, on 01453 796880, or at the box office on George Street, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm. The Painswick, Trinity Rooms and Lansdown Hall exceptions are listed above.

Is Matt Haig at the Stroud Book Festival sold out?

Not when we checked on 30 September 2026. Matt Haig is on Saturday 7 November at 2pm at the Sub Rooms, £14. Hollie McNish’s Friday show is the only festival-week event already sold out.

Sources