Leeds Lit Fest 2026 is coming, and it wants the kids in on it too

Mark the calendar, clear the diary, charge the e‑reader. Leeds Lit Fest is back from Saturday 6 to Sunday 14 June 2026, and the city’s favourite week of words, ideas, and unapologetically bookish behaviour is gearing up for its eighth outing.

Now an award-winning fixture on the cultural calendar (a two-time Saboteur winner for Best Literary Festival, no less), the festival sprawls across Leeds’ best-loved creative spaces for nine days of author talks, open mics, workshops, poetry, performance and the occasional pleasantly chaotic spoken word night. Expect familiar names, fresh voices, and the kind of programme that gives equal billing to a debut poet from Beeston and a writer flown in from somewhere far more glamorous.

Joe Williams, writer, poet and Leeds Lit Fest Steering Group member, puts it plainly. “Leeds Lit Fest is community-focused, and anyone can take part. There’ll be open mics, workshops, storytelling, poetry, author events and lots of fun stuff. We can’t wait to tell everyone about it.”

400 Words for Leeds 400

Here’s the bit that should make every parent, teacher and aspiring young scribbler in Leeds sit up. To mark 400 years since Leeds was granted its Royal Charter by King Charles I in 1626, the festival is launching its first-ever citywide writing competition for children and young people. It’s called 400 Words for Leeds 400, and it’s open to everyone from Early Years Foundation Stage right through to Sixth Form.

The challenge is gloriously simple. Write something original. A story, a poem, a monologue, a piece of creative nonfiction. Up to 400 words. About Leeds, or about the number 400, or about whatever route between the two your imagination decides to take.

Run in partnership with The Grammar School at Leeds and supported by a grant from Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, the competition has prizes in every age category, book tokens for winners and their schools, and an awards event at a popular Leeds venue where winning pieces will be read aloud to an actual audience of actual humans.

Bronagh Daly, Partnerships Director at Leeds Lit Fest, is on a mission to get every kid in the city involved, especially the ones who reckon writing isn’t really their thing. “The young people of Leeds have so much talent and it is only right that we shine a light on their capacity for radical imagination. All we ask is to see heaps of creativity in every submission.”

Crucially, judges will be marking on creativity, not spelling or grammar. So no excuses.

Submissions close at midday on Friday 8 May 2026. Entry is via the Leeds Lit Fest competition form. One entry per student. Teachers wanting to send in a class batch or hand written work can email enquiries@leedslitfest.co.uk.

A festival that runs on goodwill

It’s worth saying out loud. Leeds Lit Fest is a volunteer run Community Interest Company that pulls together one of the city’s best-loved cultural weeks each year with very little outside funding. Partner organisations including Hyde Park Book Club, The Leeds Big Bookend, Leeds Libraries, MILIM, Leeds International African Arts Festival, Chapel FM, GSAL and the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society do a remarkable amount with not a lot.

Director Fiona Gell is keen to remind everyone that this is a National Year of Reading, and a properly good moment to back the festival. “Leeds Lit Fest’s annual programme is a highlight of Leeds’ cultural calendar. We’re always excited to showcase and support the rich writing talent that is in the city and to bring new voices, ideas and creativity to Leeds.”

If a small donation, a sponsorship or a partnership feels possible, the festival’s GoFundMe is live at gofund.me/a4f86f12a.