New Programme
Download this year’s festival guide
The 21st Bridport Literary Festival is scheduled for Sunday 2nd – Saturday 8th November 2025. In it we bring you an exciting and varied programme which takes place at venues all across town and as always, we hope there is something to appeal to all members of our community and beyond, in a celebration for all those who read books and love literature.
Browse our website for all the details, or download the brochure, and keep an eye on social media and the news page for extra information on many of our events. We look forward to welcoming Friends and Supporters old and new to enjoy this wonderful week of literary offerings which create a welcome buzz throughout Bridport as the nights draw in. If you’d like to Become a Friend and have early access, you can do so online.
Download our brochure, which has all the information.
Featured Events
Welcoming our new Festival Director
We are delighted to announce that Adrian Turpin OBE, currently creative and strategic director of the Wigtown Book Festival in south-west Scotland, will be taking on the role of Director of BridLit Festival on 1 January 2026.
Adrian leaves Wigtown after nearly twenty years having established it as one of the most successful literary festivals in the UK. He is a passionate advocate for the role that festivals play in the social and economic regeneration of communities and was awarded an OBE for services to literature and the economy in 2017. The recruitment process for Festival Director attracted many outstanding local and national candidates.
The Electric Palace | Thursday 23rd October 2025 | 7.00pm
Bridport Literary Festival is thrilled to welcome worldwide best-selling author, Alexander McCall Smith, who will be joining us again for a special event in anticipation of this year’s BridLit Festival. He will be in conversation with much loved author Nikki May, in an event which promises to be an evening of sheer delight. The master storyteller will entertain you with tales from the latest 44 Scotland Street novel, Bertie’s Theory of Ice Cream, and discuss In the Time of Five Pumpkins, the new novel in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
The conversation between Alexander McCall Smith and Nikki May takes place on 23rd October at 7.00 pm.
Tickets £16
The tickets can be obtained from the Electric Palace online or Bridport Tourist Office in South Street, Bridport. Either in person or by phone on 01308 424901
The Bull Ballroom | Monday 3rd November 2025 | 8.00pm
SPECIAL EVENT JOANNE BRIGGS in conjunction with THE BRIDPORT PRIZE
The Bridport Prize is a longstanding and internationally recognised writing competition based right here in Bridport and we are delighted to be running an event with them this year presenting 2022 Memoir prizewinner Joanne Briggs in conversation with 2025 Memoir judge Manni Coe. This coming together is a chance to celebrate the literary opportunities that Bridport offers and promises to be an engaging and absorbing event. Look at it as a double bill, and buy tickets for both Joanne Briggs on Monday and Manni Coe on Tuesday!
The conversation between Joanne Briggs and Manni Coe takes place on 3rd Novemeber at 8.00 pm.
Tickets £12
The tickets can be obtained from the TIC online or Bridport Tourist Office in South Street, Bridport. Either in person or by phone on 01308 424901
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