Welcome to Cambridge Wordfest

Welcome to Cambridge Wordfest, one of Britain's friendliest and freshest literary festivals. Twice each year, in spring and winter, we bring the best in new and established writers to this historic and beautiful city. Our programmes cover all the genres and offer a fantastic variety of events for the entire family - join us and share the fun!

Highlights from Winter Wordfest 2009

The ADC Theatre bar buzzed on November 29th as inspired festival goers enjoyed a few of the best things in life: whisky, chocolate and intelligent discussion!

Highlights included Anthony Giddens' challenging call for a bipartisan political approach to tackling climate change; Ruth Rogers using her mobile onstage to 'phone a friend' and bring us the combined expertise of the River Cafe duo; the witty banter of Roy Hattersley and John O'Farrell; Margaret Drabble's erudition; the stories Penelope Lively told about letters from her fans (particularly the child who asked her to tea - but his mother said it had to be a Thursday); and our first Wordfest Theatre event featuring a scintillating and subversive performance of Büchner's Woyzeck from Splendid Productions.

The weather outside may have been damp and cold, but inside festival goers were warmed by free samples from sponsors Highland Park and Chocolat, Chocolat. Many people chose to make the Winter Festival a source for Christmas giving, with signed copies of Ruth Rogers' new River Café Cookbook a particularly popular choice. And a record number of people signed up themselves or their friends for our Friends' scheme - for just £20 they will receive a wide range of benefits including a generous 20% discount for the full membership year from Pizza Express! It's not too late to join - click here to find out more...

View Winter Wordfest 2009 photos on flickr

Spring Festival 9/10/11 April 2010

Can't wait for more Wordfest? Neither can we and we've already booked Philip Pullman, Hilary Mantel, Will Hutton, Hanif Kureishi, John Simpson, AL Kennedy and Don Paterson to appear. There will be our usual exciting mix of debut novelists, inspiring workshops and mesmerising children's events - plus comedy events and a new look to the famous Wordfest quiz! Click HERE to sign up for our newsletter and get breaking news of our spring schedule and the writers appearing - or become a Friend and receive advance booking benefits.

Join us on Facebook

We've posted photos of our authors and guests on our Facebook page. You might even see yourself! We'd also love to hear your thoughts about our events. Join our group and be part of the discussion.

Diary Dates

Cambridge Wordfest 2010
April 9th/10th/11th
Box office opens on February 26th 2010

Winter Wordfest 2010
November 28th