The 2026 Malvern Festival of Ideas will return from 13 to 15 March 2026, and will gather together speakers and performers to engage local audiences on the theme of Social Change.

Malvern St James School on Abbey Road, opposite Great Malvern railway station, will once again host the event, welcoming large audiences of all ages.

The headline speakers so far are (in alphabetical order):

• Mike Berners-Lee: a professor at Lancaster University, writer and researcher on sustainability and responses to 21st century problems. He is the author of A Climate of Truth, There is No Planet B and How Bad Are Bananas? The carbon footprint of everything. 
• Danny Dorling: Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford, a social geographer, author and broadcaster with powerful insights into inequality, housing, health, and education.
• Lucy Eckersley: the ‘Punk Biologist’, Senior Events Officer at the Royal Society of Biology, a wild animal biologist, science presenter, and passionate advocate for making science unapologetically cool.
• Reni Eddo-Lodge: award-winning British journalist and author. Her acclaimed book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) won the Jhalak Prize in 2020. She hosts the acclaimed podcast About Race.
• Ele Fountain: author of Boy 87, which won four awards, Lost, which was a Guardian Children’s Book of the Year, Fake, selected as a BookTrust Future Classic, and Wild, which was a Financial Times Best Book of the Year. Her latest novel, Storm Child, was a Times Book of the Week. 
• Emily Hauser: senior lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, and the author of the historical novels For the Most Beautiful, For the Winner, and For the Immortal. Her fiction and academic work challenge patriarchal readings of antiquity, offering fresh, feminist perspectives.
• April-Louise Pennant: Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at Cardiff University, a scholar-activist, speaker, writer and consultant in the social sciences and humanities, on education, policy and community action.

• Michael Rosen: acclaimed children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster, activist, and academic, and Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.
• S F Said: an award-winning, best-selling children’s author whose stories blend myth, activism, and imagination. His first book, Varjak Paw, won the Nestlé Smarties Prize for Children’s Literature.
• Adele Zeynep Walton: a British-Turkish journalist and online safety campaigner with Families and Survivors to Prevent Online Suicide Harm and Bereaved Families for Online Safety. She is the author of Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World.
• Jeanette Winterson: this acclaimed author writes, teaches, and speaks on literature, technology, and the power of language to shape identity and change. She is Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester. 
• Lola Young: Baroness Young of Hornsey is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, a former actor and a professor of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University. She has led initiatives on ethical fashion, modern slavery, and cultural heritage.

Festival director Andrew Webb said: ‘We’ve invited thought leaders, creatives, and changemakers to join us to share insights, challenge perspectives, and inspire action for social change. Our voices can drive progress: join us in shaping the conversations that will define the future. We will be exploring factors and causes and asking questions such as: How can we ensure equal opportunities and rights for all, regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status? How do advancements in AI and automation affect jobs, privacy, and societal structures? How can we bridge the gap between wealthier and poorer nations, especially in access to education, healthcare, and resources? Who benefits from the Culture War?’

Tickets for individual talks, day tickets for Saturday and Sunday, and Weekend tickets will be available from 1st December 2025.

All details can be found on the Malvern Festival of Ideas website, malvernfestivalofideas.org.uk.