News

The Festival gets off to a tremendous start this Friday when we welcome the arrival of Our Friends in Beijing, brought to Wells by that veteran China reporter John Simpson. Or could it be Jon Swift? Find out when the Festival opens at 6pm on Friday. If you don’t have a ticket yet, register for live-streaming before […]

Jemma Wadham, scheduled to appear in Wells on the Cedars Hall stage on Saturday 23 October at 2pm, will now be speaking to us direct from where she is currently working – at the frontline of the climate crisis. In a development that perfectly illustrates the nature of the ground-breaking glaciology Jemma is undertaking in the […]

In a change to the published programme, we are delighted to introduce bestselling author Andrew Lownie as he explores the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in the long years after the abdication.  Much has been written about the crisis surrounding Edward VIII’S 1936 abdication itself, but far less is known about the […]

We very much regret that Emma Dabiri, who was scheduled to discuss What White People Can Do Next with Sarah LeFanu, has had to pull out of the Festival. This event was due to take place on Saturday 16 October at 12.15 pm. Anyone who has bought a ticket will be contacted by Cedars Hall box office and […]

Somerset was long considered the heart of England. After all, it’s easy to feel at home here. Many of our speakers do and are: Dr Lucy Pollock who urges us actually to talk about getting older; Lucy Jago who set her first YA book at Montacute House and has now written about a scandal at […]

Legendary war reporter Kate Adie CBE, in conversation with Festival Patron William Waldegrave, set the tone for this year’s Festival during a unique pre-Festival event for Friends and supporters, sponsored by Investec. Kate reported from battlefields and disaster zones all over the globe and her descriptions of what she saw were mesmerising. Her experiences at […]

Recent announcements about some of this year’s Festival events will certainly provide plenty to get people talking. First on the horizon is the opportunity to listen in on someone else’s conversation – a chat between the legendary war reporter Kate Adie CBE and the Festival’s own distinguished patron, Lord Waldegrave. This fascinating exchange will take […]

A few weeks ago it was reported that Nicola Clifford, a former winner of the Short Story Competition, had gone on to snap up a three-novel publishing deal (a spine-chilling murder mystery series set in Wales). The most recent triumph has gone to a poet. Last year’s Open Poetry winner, Maggie Wadey has been Highly […]

The final event of the 2021 Festival will probably see more characters on the Cedars Hall stage than have ever gathered there together before, including a journalist, comedian, MP, radio presenter, university chancellor, actor, entertainer, Oldie of the year, poet, podcaster, bear collector, royal biographer… and more, all rolled into one self-confessed ‘oddball’. Gyles Brandreth will close […]

We hope you have already made a note of the dates for the bumper Festival being planned for Wells this year (15 – 23 October) but there are also a few other key dates to remember. The full programme will be revealed during the week commencing 23 August Tickets will go on sale to the […]