Join us for the 2026 Liverpool Literary Festival

Thomas Glave and Stephen Small join Dr Amal Abu-Bakare, Lecturer in the Politics of Race and Decolonial Studies at the University of Liverpool.

Thomas Glave is a Professor in the English Department at Binghamton University, State University of New York, author of five books and editor of Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles. A two-time Fulbright Scholar and honorary visiting professor at the University of Liverpool, he serves on the editorial board of Wasafiri and is a trustee of Writing West Midlands and Peepal Tree Press. His latest essay collection, published by Jacaranda Books, will be out in the autumn.

Liverpool 8 born, Stephen Small is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He researches the history and sociology of Black people across the diaspora and his most recent book Black Liverpool: ‘the real thing’. West African, West Indian and Afro-American culture at the end of the twentieth century was published by Liverpool University Press.

Click here to book a festival pass.

All passes will include reserved seating in the lecture theatre, plus a host of other exclusive VIP benefits. Please note, the weekend pass does not include the launch event with Roger McGough on Friday 16th October.

There are a number of FREE University of Liverpool student tickets at all festival events. Students who sign up to receive their free ticket will need to add the code STUDENT26 when ordereing and show their student ID when they arrive at the venue.

To visit the festival website and take a look at the rest of the programme please click here

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