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Fiction

  • Anna Whitwham - Soft Tissue Damage - Writing Workshop

    Novelist and poet Cecilia Knapp joins Anna Whitwham to discuss Lack, her sharp and lyrical novel about a thirtysomething woman caught between her superficially glamorous life and a growing sense of panic. Knapp looks directly at the challenges of leaving one’s twenties, as career pressure and a desire to have fun collide with the search for meaning. In the lonely hours of the middle of the night, a woman scrolls social media on her phone. Babies are everywhere. All her friends seem to have one. But how can she consider bringing a new life into the world when that world is burning? Cecilia Knapp was Young People’s Laureate for London 2020-2021. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward Prize for best single poem.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Monday 9 November 2026 @ 5.00 pm
    Where: Goose and Badger
  • Francis Spufford - Nonesuch

    Lauded by the Times as “one of the finest prose stylists of his generation”, the author of Golden Hill and Light Perpetual talks to fellow author Raffaella Barker about his fantastical new novel, Nonesuch. It’s the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman working in the City, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a technical whizz at the BBC’s new TV unit. But what was supposed to be one night of abandon leads her instead into a netherworld where time bends and spirits can be summoned. London will soon be burning. But Iris has more to worry about than the Blitz. A fascist fanatic is at large with a gun in her hand. And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10 November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
  • The Bookery with Angela Tomaski - Home

      Bridport’s regular literary pop-up presents an evening of readings on the theme of “Home”. A trio of Dorset authors is led by Angela Tomaski whose “exquisitely gothic and darkly comedic” The Infamous Gilberts was shortlisted for the 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. The five eccentric protagonists of Tomaski’s novel are a romantic, a traditionalist, a dreamer, a diva and an explorer. As their crumbling stately home is handed over to a chain of luxury hotels, these five fatherless siblings are cast adrift on the troubled shores of the 20th-century. Angela is supported by Ros Huxley whose novel Kendal Acts Up, is published by local imprint WriteSideLeft, while Lesley Gillilan, shares her work-in-progress, Creatures of Habit. Two hours, with interval. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10 November 2026 @ 7.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
  • Amanda Craig - High and Low

    Few novelists capture the “state of the nation” better than Amanda Craig, who we’re delighted to welcome back to the festival. High and Low is the latest in her gripping and eagle-eyed depictions of Britain today. Set in a six-hour timeframe, a small group of writers, bakers and shopkeepers are under siege from an armed mob. Inside a café, they have nothing but books and flour to defend not just themselves, but a child being hunted by a gang. This is a fascinating novel about moral choices made in extreme situations. What do we owe strangers, neighbours or even our enemies? Amanda Craig is the author of 10 novels, including A Vicious Circle, The Three Graces, Hearts and Minds and The Lie of the Land. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Wednesday 11 November 2026 @ 1.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
  • Imani Thompson - Honey

    Yrsa doesn’t mean to kill the first time, when she knocks a bee into her hated professor’s Sanpellegrino. But it’s a delicious feeling finally having some control. So who’s next? Imani Thompson’s novel about a bored graduate student who murders “bad men” in the name of feminism provoked a 10-way auction between publishers, drawing comparisons with My Sister, the Serial Killer, Butter and Yellowface. She talks about why a darkly comic thriller is the ideal vehicle to talk about race and misogyny – and why she’s the most unlikely creator of a serial killer imaginable. Raised in Dorset, Imani Thompson is a British writer of Scottish, Irish and Jamaican heritage. After studying Sociology at Cambridge University, she worked as a bookseller. “Wow, basically”, Harriet Tyce.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Thursday 12 November 2026 @ 7.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
  • Patrick Gale - Love Lane

    One of Britain’s best-loved storytellers returns to Bridport Literary Festival to talk about his beguiling new work of fiction, an epic portrait of what it means to make a home spanning three generations of one family. Although it’s a standalone novel, Love Lane features one of Gale’s most memorable characters, Canadian farmer Harry Cane, protagonist of the Costa Award-shortlisted A Place Called Winter. Forced to sell up on the prairies and return to a Britain transformed by two world wars, he receives a mixed reception from his family. Can Harry make a new life for himself or will he be cast out again? Patrick talks with fellow novelist Raffaella Barker. “A tender, delicately devastating novel”, Sarah Waters.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 13 November 2026 @ 3.00 pm
    Where: Electric Palace
    Sponsored by: Maggie & John Mills
  • Rebecca Perry - May We Feed the King?

    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.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 14 November 2026 @ 12 noon
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Deirdre & Howard Coates
  • Tom Cox - Everything Will Swallow You

    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.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 14 November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
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