BOOK EARLY FOR BATH LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2025

A titan of contemporary literature, a respected lexicographer and a finalist in this year’s I’m A Celebrity TV reality series have been announced as three of the stars for next year’s Bath Literature Festival, with tickets going on sale before Christmas.

Bath Festivals is proud to announce that Booker Prize winning Nigerian-British poet and novelist, Ben Okri, will be one of the headline authors for May’s Bath Literature Festival. The author of modern classics, including The Famished Road and Astonishing the Gods, was knighted last year for his services to literature.

Also joining the stellar line-up is Susie Dent, etymologist and lexicographer, best known for her long-running presence as the adjudicator of the letters round in Channel 4’s Countdown series. She will be talking about her debut thriller, Guilty by Definition.

Fresh from his stint on reality show I’m A Celebrity is the polymath the Rev Richard Coles, the Church of England priest who has also written a series of cosy mystery books, beginning with Murder Before Evensong, which went straight to No 1 in the Sunday Times bestsellers list.

Bath Literature Festival will run in tandem with Bath Music Festival over nine days, from Saturday 17 May to Sunday 25 May 2025, run by Bath Festivals arts charity.

Tickets for these three events will go on general release on Monday 16 December at 10am, with priority booking for members and patrons from 10am on Friday 13 December. Visit our website: https://bathfestivals.org.uk/the-bath-festival

Ben Okri

Saturday 17 May 2025, 6pm, St Swithin’s Church
Book and ticket: £20
Standard entry: £14 (£10 conc.)

Booker prize-winning author Ben Okri comes to Bath with his new novel, Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken Hearted. His latest novel is a modern fable about love, power, and our many selves — past and future, public and private. Sir Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, playwright and film script writer who was the youngest writer to win a Booker Prize for the first of his trilogy, The Famished Road. His novel Astonishing the Gods was one of the BBC’s 100 novels which have shaped our world.

About Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken Hearted
On the 20th anniversary of the day her first husband left her, Viv decides to host an unconventional party for those who, like her, who have been burned by love. She ropes in her reluctant second husband, invites their friends Beatrice and Stephen, and books the famous fortune teller Madame Sosostris for her masquerade. In a sacred wood in the south of France, the partygoers disguise themselves and wait eagerly for the great clairvoyant, but the night soon goes awry in a comically revealing way that causes the couples to question their relationships and the direction of their lives.

Susie Dent
Saturday 24 May 2025, 4pm Guildhall
Tickets: £14 (£10 conc.)

Guilty by Definition the debut novel from the Queen of Countdown, Susie Dent is a tale of lexicographical skullduggery that will delight sleuths and crime fans alike. Susie Dent was working as a lexicographer, when she was invited to appear on Countdown, which she has appeared on since 1992. She is also an etymologist who picks a word of the day for our enlightenment and enjoyment.

About Guilty by Definition:
When a series of cryptic anonymous letters arrive at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary, editor Martha Thornhill and her team pull them apart looking for clues. But it’s clear that while someone is trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth, other forces are just as desperate to keep it well and truly buried.

Richard Coles
Sunday 25 May 2025, 4pm, The  Guildhall
Book and ticket: £25
Standard entry: £15 (£10 conc.)

Britain’s most famous vicar, recent finalist in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Here, and Sunday Times best-selling author Reverend Richard Coles talks to the festivals’ guest curator, Radio2 Book Club producer Joe Haddow about the latest in his Canon Clement Mystery series, A Death on Location.

About Richard Coles:
Until his retirement in 2022 Richard Coles was a vicar in a quintessentially English village in Northamptonshire. As well as a career as a cleric, he is also a writer, broadcaster and former one half of the 1980s pop duo The Communards. For 12 years he co-presented Radio 4’s Saturday Live and has written 12 books, including the best-selling Canon Clements Mysteries. 

Get your tickets
Book tickets online at: https://bathfestivals.org.uk/the-bath-festival/whats-on/

Or by phone, 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday: 01225 463362.
Or in person during those hours at Bath Box Office counter, 1a Forum Buildings, St James’ Parade, Bath BA1 1UG.