12TH – 16TH MAY 2026
12TH – 16TH MAY 2026
FLEET STREET QUARTER FESTIVAL OF WORDS 2026
Sponsored by Landsec and MYO
THE AGE OF WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS
Fleet Street Quarter’s Festival of Words returns from 12th -16th May 2026, bringing five days of enlightening and transformative conversations to this historic western side of the City of London. Featuring an array of authors, journalists and thinkers across multiple genres, the Festival of Words once again celebrates Fleet Street Quarter as the place where stories have always been born.
The theme this year takes inspiration from the famous opening lines of Charles Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness’.
Join us across 40 events as we examine and celebrate what drives our own Age of Wisdom and Foolishness, the ideas right or wrong that challenge what has gone before and seek to predict what will come next.
Speakers
A look back at 2025
The Festival of Words 2025 was the first major literary festival in the Fleet Street Quarter,
featuring 40+ events across journalism, fiction, poetry and family programming
with top authors and broadcasters celebrating storytelling and the written word.
HEADLINE SPONSOR
EVENT SPONSORS
VENUE PARTNERS
PATRONS
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Sir Ben OkriPoet, Novelist, Artist and Speaker
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Baroness Beeban KidronFilm and television director (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; Oranges are Not the Only Fruit) and member of the House of Lords
Advisory Board
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Lady Lucy French OBECEO, Fleet Street Quarter BID
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Damian Collins OBEFestival Director
Author, former Chair of the House Select Committee for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, and MP for Folkestone and Hythe from 2010 to 2024 -
Nick AddymanFounder and Chair of Laurus Law and former board member of the English National Opera
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Diane BanksLiterary agent and Chief Executive of Northbank Talent Agency
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Lord Black of BrentwoodDeputy Chairman, Telegraph Media Group
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Simon ClarkChair of the Center for Countering Digital Hate
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David ShriverSenior Advisor Kekst CNC and Trustee, Creative Folkestone
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Simon KingstonManaging Director at Intelligence For Development and creator of West Cork Literary Festival
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John NicolsonJournalist, broadcaster and politician
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Sarah RichardsonSenior advisor to the Global Innovation Fund and former Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster
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Dr Damian TambiniDistinguished Policy Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE
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Tom LambregtsMarketing Manager at Landsec
