Maggie O’Farrell to headline Bath Literature Festival 1/6/26

Bath Literature Festival is delighted to welcome the bestselling author of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell to celebrate the release of her new novel, Land.

The award-winning Irish author of novels including Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait, After You’d Gone, The Hand That First Held Mine and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am, joins the festival, in partnership with Waterstones, for an evening at The Forum, Bath on Monday 1 June, 7pm.

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet won Waterstones Book of the Year and the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020. The film – for which O’Farrell co-wrote the screenplay with director Chloe Zhao – starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, has struck a deep emotional chord with audiences since it opened in cinemas earlier this month. It won a Golden Globe award for best film drama and one for Jessie Buckley, as best actress in a drama.

It is also hotly tipped for more success at the Oscars in March.

Her new novel, Land, is at once intimate and epic, inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid 19th century: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and survival with resilience and love. This is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts and a particularly loyal dog. It’s also a story about place, and how layers of history change landscapes and the people who live in them. The Bath Literature Festival audience will be among the first to get their hands on a copy of Land, which is published on 2 June.

NB the author will not be signing at the event, but books will be stamped with an author signature, exclusive to the Land book tour. There will be opportunities for audience questions during the event.

Tickets are on sale from 10am on Tuesday 20 January. Book: https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/whats-on/an-evening-with-maggie-o-farrell-fcz1

Or by phone from Bath Box Office: 01225 463362.

Also coming to Bath Literature Festival 2026

Bath Literature Festival 2026 looks forward to welcoming Tom Holland, the award-winning star of the world’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History. Tickets are on sale now.

Travel back to the Roman Empire as Tom Holland celebrates his translation for Penguin Classics of Suetonius’s influential, Lives of the Twelve Caesars.

Already an acclaimed, bestselling author when the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History made superstars of him and his co-host Dominic Sandbrook, Tom Holland guides us through history with humour, insight and expertise.

Tom Holland is at The Forum on Friday 22 May, 7pm. Tickets: https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/whats-on/tom-holland-8j3v

Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo, has a new novel out in May. John is John is set in the tight-knit community of the isle of Harris, focusing on the silent struggle of lives lived under watchful, judgmental eyes. The author will be discussing his books, masculinity and the process of writing with Max Porter, the best-selling author of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers. Details about booking, coming soon.

More news about 2026 festivals The full programme for Bath Literature Festival, Saturday 16 May – Sunday 24 May and Bath International Music Festival, Saturday 30 May – Sunday 7 June will be announced in February

About Bath Festivals Bath Festivals is a registered charity (No. 801617) that inspires and connects different people and communities through music and book festivals. All its work is designed to maximise inclusion and accessibility, ignite ideas, thoughts and conversations and promote and celebrate the positive impact that music, literature, and performance have on people’s lives.