The 2026 Malvern Festival of Ideas will return in the spring (Malvern St James School, Friday 13 - Sunday 15 March), with its guest contributors including acclaimed children's author Michael Rosen.

The theme for the 2026 edition of the event is 'social change'. Michael Rosen’s lifelong body of work is grounded in a passionate belief: that literature - especially children’s literature - has the power to spark profound social change. In a lively session, Rosen explores how stories and poetry serve not merely as vessels of entertainment or instruction, but as aesthetic experiences that provoke thought, nurture creativity, and challenge conventional ways of seeing the world. 

Other speakers at next year's festival include journalist and campaigner Adele Zeynep Walton, wildlife biologist Lucy Eckersley, Dr Tom Crawford - the mathematician who makes numbers rock, sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee, author Jeanette Winterson and more!

Further details can be found at malvernfestivalofideas.org.uk