London’s longest-running literary festival reveals its 75th edition, expanding beyond Kings Place and online for events lined up across the capital. Packed with over 160 speakers, the 2026 festival welcomes Booker-Prize and Olivier-winners, former MPs, Oscar-nominees and international bestsellers, including David Grossman, Janet Suzman, Simon Schama, Esther Freud, Michael Gove, Cassidy Janson and Claudia Roden.
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Top left – clockwise: Esther Freud, Claudia Roden, Janet Suzman, Daniel Grossman, Zoe Strimpel, Michael Gove, Cassidy Janson, Simon Schama
Jewish Book Week marks its 75th anniversary celebrations with a packed nine-day programme of debates, talks, performances, and interactive experiences. The 2026 festival will be of an unprecedented scale, expanding beyond its home at the state-of-the-art venue Kings Place within vibrant King’s Cross to offer pop-up events across London’s cultural institutions, including the British Museum, the British Library and the Bridge Theatre, alongside an extensive online offering.
Hosted by the Jewish Literary Foundation, the festival will see a stellar line-up of authors and thinkers take the stage to celebrate the Jewish cultural highlight of the year. Joining are Booker-prize winners David Grossman and Howard Jacobson, Oscar-nominee Janet Suzman, Olivier-winning singer Cassidy Janson, former Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, Booker-prize shortlist Ben Markovits, international bestseller Simon Sebag Montefiore, award-winning author Esther Freud, historian Simon Schama, and renowned journalists Zoe Strimpel and Anshel Pfeffer.
To honour the anniversary milestone, the vast programme sweeps across colossal figures of the past, contemporary bestsellers and new emerging voices. From celebrations of Philip Roth, Bob Dylan and Stefan Zweig to showcasing new writers through the Jewish Literary Foundation’s
development schemes, including the Genesis Emerging Writers and the inaugural Jewish Playwrights Programme, the festival will serve as a crossroads for writers old and new.
Jewish Book Week will open with internationally renowned pianist Margaret Fingerhut, MBE and violinist Bradley Creswick, Leader Emeritus of Royal Northern Sinfonia, performing works by composers including George Gershwin, Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn and Ernest Bloch. Following this will be a panel featuring festival favourites Howard Jacobson, Claudia Roden, Simon Schama and Hugo Rifkind, paving the way for nine days of events covering everything from the crisis of the BBC and the case for assisted dying to Israel behind the headlines, the polarization of the Culture Wars and an appreciation of Carole King in words and music.
Tying the entire festival together will be an exploration of the breadth of Jewish culture in the UK and beyond. With sessions ranging from Mamdani: A New New York and Jewish Stories in the Square Mile to The Lines we Draw: A Jewish Journalist’s Search for Identity and Across the divide: Jewish and Arab Israeli women, the festival will confront head on the diversity of Jewish experience in an ever-changing world.
Welcoming around 15,000 people annually through its doors and online, the 2026 festival has launched its first-ever under 30s programme, including an exclusive Meet the Author with Ben Markovits, stand-up comedy, literary workshops, and the largest free fringe offering yet. Adding to this accessibility offering are £5 tickets for under 30s and free online sessions.
The festival builds on the success of the Jewish Literary Foundation’s ever-expanding range of literary activities, including a deep-dive into translation for the inaugural Freudenheim Translation Prize in partnership with the Times Literary Supplement, a showcase night for the recently launched Jewish Playwrights Programme, and celebratory events for the Genesis Emerging Writers Programme and Wingate Literary Prize.
As Director Claudia Rubenstein says,
“Jewish Book Week has always been a meeting place for writers across continents and years, and what better way to celebrate this than with our 75th edition, which promises to be more ambitious, eclectic, and challenging than ever-before. We hope this programme honours what has made Jewish Book Week so special, while looking to the future and ensuring that Jewish writing and ideas continue to thrive for generations to come.”
Explore the full festival programme here. Tickets go on sale from 8th January via the Kings Place box office and online at kingsplace.co.uk.
In-person events are held at Kings Place, 90 York Way, King’s Cross, London N1 9AG, in addition to select events across London. All online events are free to attend on Zoom.
