Established in 2017, the agenda-setting literature festival embodies Cliveden House’s long tradition as a political and literary salon.

2026 Speakers

Jay McInerney | Julian Barnes | Candace Bushnell | Michael Connelly |

Patrick Radden Keefe | Patrick Marber | David Nicholls | Kemi Badenoch |

Katie Kitamura | Deborah Lipstadt | Robert Harris | Tom Holland | Emily Maitlis |

Michael Moritz | Mishal Husain | Jonathan Bate | Eugene Rogan | Wes Streeting |

Alex Burghart | Ayesha Hazarika | Maurice Glasman | Matt Goodwin | Misha Glenny |

Michael Gove | Alice Winn | Yael van der Wouden | Ed Chisholm | Lauren Collins |

James Cahill | Joanne Cash | Camilla Cavendish | John Burn-Murdoch |

Victor Sebestyen | Imogen Edward-Jones | Louis Sarkozy | Hermione Eyre |

John McWhorter | Alice Lassman | Georgia Beaufort | Yana Peel | Tom Stuart-Smith |

Sue Stuart-Smith

And our founders: Natalie Livingstone | Catherine Ostler | Simon Sebag Montefiore and Andrew Roberts.

Hear Kemi Badenoch talk to Simon Sebag Montefiore about her reinvention of the Conservative Party and the tumultous state of British politics; Robert Harris discuss Agrippa, his new novel exploring loyalty and ruthlessness at the birth of the Roman Empire, with Tom Holland; novelists Yael van der Wouden and Alice Winn dissect the magic of historical fiction; and Patrick Radden Keefe in conversation with Misha Glenny about his bestselling investigation into London’s underworld.

Join us for panels debating the most pressing questions of the moment, from the making of the modern Middle East to the state of America in its 250th year. Politicians and commentators including Wes Streeting, Joanne Cash, Ayesha Hazarika, Alex Burghart, Maurice Glasman and Matt Goodwin will be put to the test on the arguments dividing Westminster. In between are debates on the art of narrative; the world of Renoir; Nazi Germany and the rise and fall of Napoleon's empire; from why we are having fewer children, and fewer relationships, to our enduring love of gardens - the last of these in the most fitting of settings, the house and gardens of Cliveden itself.

Full details of the event programme will be announced soon.

Catering

There will be a variety of food vendors in the Forecourt and in the Festival Food Marquee, plus the Laurent-Perrier Bar and Horsebox Coffee in the Forecourt.

Cliveden are offering a two-course set lunch in the Cliveden Dining Room at £80 per person or the Astor Grill at £65 per person. Please note that space is limited, therefore reservations in advance are required. Payment in full is required at time of booking.

For full details of all Festival catering please go to our website.

If you need help booking your tickets please email the Cliveden Literary Festival Event Office or call us on +44 (0) 20 3488 3401.

Description supplied by the event organiser.