Maidstone LitFest runs 1 to 11 October with 38 events across nine venues. Author talks are £11, children's events £5, and most are already on sale.

Maidstone LitFest has published its 2026 programme. The festival runs from Thursday 1 October to Sunday 11 October, with 38 events across nine venues in the town, and most tickets are already on sale.

The line-up is on the festival’s own What’s On page (Maidstone LitFest, What’s On in 2026). Thirty-two of the events are bookable now through its box office (Maidstone Literary Festival CIC, Ticket Tailor).

What it costs

Prices are low by festival standards, and every author talk is the same price:

  • Author talks: £11 general admission, £9 for over-65s and for Friends of the Festival
  • Most children’s events at Invicta Grammar School: £5, with adults paying the same £5 as children
  • Two exceptions on that day: Lucy Strange’s writing workshop is £6 a child and free for the accompanying adult, and Holly Bourne’s event for ages 14 and over is £7 flat
  • Wine tasting with Helen McGinn: £19, or £15.40 for Friends
  • Suspense After Dark dinner with Adele Parks and Louise Candlish: £28.25, or £22.85 for Friends
  • Holly Seddon’s half-day thriller writing masterclass: £50.50, or £40.70 for Friends

Those figures are the prices listed on the festival’s box office on 21 August (Ticket Tailor).

The names worth knowing

The festival opens on National Poetry Day, Thursday 1 October, with a celebration of its first poetry competition at Junipers Cocktail Lounge, with the poet Dorothy Lehane. We covered the competition itself when it opened; entries close on 31 August, and the festival says tickets for the celebration will be released in early September.

After that, the week’s better-known bookings include:

  • Iain Dale, the political broadcaster, on Have I Said Too Much?, in conversation with Dr Sian Williams, Maidstone Town Hall, Friday 2 October
  • Dr Sian Williams again in her own event with BBC South East’s Ellie Crisell on The Power of Anxiety, Hazlitt Theatre, Tuesday 6 October
  • Erin Kelly on her novel The Night Stairs, Waterstones, Wednesday 7 October
  • Vaseem Khan on his Q novels, Waterstones, and Clare Chambers at Maidstone Museum, both Thursday 8 October
  • Dan Abnett, the Marvel, DC, 2000 AD and Warhammer writer, Waterstones, Friday 9 October
  • Milly Johnson on Let the Bells Ring Out, Maidstone Town Hall, Friday 9 October
  • The Witching Hour, with Michelle Paver, Bridget Collins and Jess Kidd, Maidstone Museum, Sunday 11 October

Two events are billed as local history rather than new fiction: Shane Waterman on Maidstone’s Dark History and Amanda Harvey Purse on Remembering Jacquetta, subtitled “uncover the Maidstone connection to a woman who shaped a dynasty”, both at Maidstone Museum.

Bar chart of Maidstone LitFest 2026 events by day: 1 October 1 event, 2 October 2, 3 October 3, 4 October 10, 5 October 2, 6 October 1, 7 October 4, 8 October 3, 9 October 3, 10 October 5, 11 October 4, making 38 in total
How the 38 events fall across the eleven days. Graphic by Maidstone Live, from the festival's published programme.

Sunday 4 October is the children’s day

Ten of the 38 events run at Invicta Grammar School on Sunday 4 October, from 10am to 5.30pm, and they are the cheapest thing in the programme: eight of the ten are £5 a head. Age guidance runs from 3 upwards:

  • Storytime with Stuart Heritage, ages 3+, 10am
  • A creative writing workshop with Lucy Strange, ages 8+, 10am (£6 a child, accompanying adult free)
  • Onjali Q Raúf on Where Magic Grows, ages 8+, 11am
  • Olaf Falafel and the Far-Out Five, ages 6+, 11.30am
  • Harriet Muncaster on ten years of Isadora Moon, ages 5+, 1pm
  • Tọlá Okogwu on Bim Blake’s Hot Takes, ages 9+, 1pm
  • Ben Davis on Postman Planet, ages 6+, 2.30pm
  • Jamie Littler, illustration and storytelling, ages 8+, 2.30pm
  • Maz Evans on myths and magic, ages 8+, 4.30pm
  • Holly Bourne on And Then We Screamed, ages 14+, 4.30pm (£7)

Two events on the same day start at the same time in four of those slots, so a family cannot do all ten.

Where the events are

Maidstone LitFest 2026 venues and how many events each hosts
VenueEvents
Maidstone Museum, St Faith's Street13
Invicta Grammar School, Huntsman Lane10
Waterstones, Fremlin Walk5
The Exchange Studio3
Maidstone Town Hall2
Village Hotel, Maidstone2
Hazlitt Theatre1
Mu Mu Maidstone1
Junipers Cocktail Lounge1

Every venue is in Maidstone. The museum, Waterstones, the town hall and the Hazlitt are all within a few minutes’ walk of each other in the centre; Invicta Grammar School on Huntsman Lane and the Village Hotel are the two that need a drive or a bus.

What it means for you

  • Six of the 38 events are not yet bookable through the festival’s box office. They are the poetry competition celebration on 1 October, the three events at The Exchange Studio, the Hazlitt Theatre event on 6 October, and Amanda Harvey Purse at the museum on 8 October. The festival says tickets for the poetry night arrive in early September and that booking for the 2000 AD event “opens soon”.
  • Children’s events sell on a per-person basis. At £5 for adults and £5 for children, a parent plus two children at one of the £5 Invicta events is £15. The exception is Lucy Strange’s workshop, where the adult ticket is free.
  • Friends of the Festival membership carries a discount on everything: £9.80 off the masterclass, £5.40 off the dinner, £3.60 off the wine tasting and £2 off every author talk.
  • The festival is a not-for-profit. Maidstone Literary Festival CIC describes its mission as spreading “a love of reading and books” and supporting literacy “at all ages in the county town” (Ticket Tailor).
  • Check the times, not just the days. Several events clash, particularly on 4 and 7 October.

More things to do locally are on our what’s on in Maidstone page, and if you are driving in for an evening event, our parking guide covers town-centre tariffs.

Sources