Inside the new book festival coming to the Lake District next month

Posted on May 4, 2026 in INTO, UK

Calling all book lovers and young publishers: a new book festival is planned for one of the most beautiful parts of the UK. Find out what it takes to set up a new literary festival, where to buy tickets and how you can be involved as a volunteer.

The very first Lake District Book Festival is due to be held on 12th-14th June 2026 at Cartmel Racecourse in the south of Cumbria, not far from the famous Windermere and surrounded by a rich literary heritage, from William Wordsworth to Beatrix Potter. It can be easily reached by road from junction 36 of the M6 or via a train to Cark-in-Cartmel station.

The festival bookseller will be Verey Books (a gorgeous bookshop and cafe near Ullswater in the north of the Lakes, which in my opinion is worth a visit in its own right!).

The festival was the brainchild of Christopher de Bellaigue (now festival director) and Charlotte Fairbairn (festival producer). ‘Having been brought up on the Edinburgh Festival – Fringe and International – and as a novelist myself, I have always wanted to stage a big literary event of some kind,’ Charlotte told me. ‘Christopher, it turned out, had similar ambitions.’

How a book festival is born

What is the process of founding a new literary festival? Where would you begin and what do you need to think about? Charlotte kindly provided this fascinating detail:

‘The first thing was setting ourselves up as an entity – in our case, a CIC or Community Interest Company – and then beginning to fundraise. We held an early launch in October 2024 at the racecourse and invited friends and notables from Cumbria, encouraging them to become founder patrons. Slowly our fundraising focus grew wider and we began applying to statutory bodies, local charities and sponsors.

‘Christopher is in charge of the programming and he began to solicit interest from authors and journalists he knows or knows of. I meanwhile began looking at logistics: generators, tents, chairs, staging, layout, parking etc. We appointed a volunteers coordinator to help over the weekend itself with volunteers of all ages. All the while, we have been building up social media, newsletter and PR followings to build a sense of anticipation. The website and ticketing has taken up a huge amount of time, thinking through the logic of pricing, day passes etc.

‘Now with two months to go, it is all about last minute planning. Who is going to stay with which host? Do we need a shuttle bus or do we not? How many flags will we put up in the car park? Does it really cost £3000 for a traffic management plan?’

Bringing the world to the Lakes & the Lakes to the world… while enthusing young people

‘Part of our mission for the festival is to spread joy and excitement among young people about the arts in general and books in particular,’ said Charlotte. For example, they’re involving local school students as volunteers.

The festival’s other mission is to give Cumbria more recognition on the national stage: bringing the world to the Lakes & the Lakes to the world.

‘If we give Cumbria a bit more time in the sun on a national level, and if we enthuse one or two young people in the business of writing, reading, staging arts events, we will both feel proud,’ Charlotte commented.

Volunteering opportunities: be part of this exciting new festival

There are volunteering roles available as:

• festival guides: directing visitors, answering questions in regards to which tents are hosting which authors, signposting etc
• venue assistants: checking tickets, interacting with visitors, showing visitors to their seats, manning microphones for Q&As
• stage assistants: assisting with stage set up to ensure each talk runs smoothly
• box office stewards: selling tickets and programmes to visitors

According to Charlotte, if you volunteer ‘you will have a lot of fun, be at the ground floor of something really exciting, be able to hear and perhaps meet some really top writers and thinkers’. As we often say here at the SYP, volunteering at a literary festival is also great experience for your CV if you hope to get your foot in the door of the publishing industry.

To express your interest in volunteering, contact Charlotte in the first instance: festivalproducer@lakedistrictbookfestival.co.uk

Can’t volunteer? Where to buy your tickets

Go to the Lake District Book Festival website to learn more about the festival. From there, you can sign up to receive their email newsletters and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Speakers include former MPs Rory Stewart and Michael Heseltine, Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams, and Katie Hale who is the author of eco-thriller The Edge of Solitude.

Tickets, day passes and details of the events and speakers are available from the online festival shop. What’s more, tickets are half price for anyone under the age of 25.