Step into the spotlight by speaking at a book festival!

Book festivals offer a platform for authors to build credibility, boost visibility and connect with engaged readers. Whether your book explores business, technology, politics or history, the UK has a huge variety of book festivals that welcome non-fiction voices.

Most festivals take place annually, some even twice a year, and they usually begin booking speakers at least six months in advance, so it’s worth planning ahead.

Here are five examples that can help authors grow their audience and authority:

• Hay Festival: The Hay Festival is one of the most famous literary festivals globally, based in the ‘town of books’ Hay-on-Wye and held in both the winter and summer. Non-fiction plays a major role, and the programme is always packed full of thought leaders speaking across politics, economics, science, history and culture.

• FT Weekend Festival: Run by the Financial Times, the FT Weekend Festival is one of the biggest UK events for business, economics and thought leadership authors. It features names across politics, business, tech and culture and is ideal for anyone writing on leadership, strategy, innovation or future trends.

• HowTheLightGetsIn Festival: Known as “the world’s largest philosophy and music festival”, it places a strong emphasis on non-fiction ideas, particularly philosophy, science, politics and social commentary. It’s ideal for authors writing in the future-thinking, big ideas or academic space.

• Cambridge Literary Festival: The festival celebrates both fiction and non-fiction, and has strong speakers across politics, science, memoir and current affairs. It attracts high-profile thinkers, journalists, academics and public figures and holds spring and winter events.

• Cliveden Literary Festival: Held at the historic Cliveden House, the festival is known for attracting prominent thinkers, journalists and historians. It has a strong focus on non-fiction, particularly history, biography, politics and culture.

Tip for getting booked

Festival and event authors are looking for fresh and engaging perspectives which spark discussion or challenge conventional thinking. When pitching yourself as a speaker, try to lead with your core idea or theme, rather than book title, and demonstrate how it connects with their audience. Keep your summary short, punchy and tailored to each festival, highlighting the value you can bring.