Fleet Street Quarter launches London's newest literary festival

Fleet Street Quarter is an area steeped in the heritage of literature and publishing, a place where stories have always been born.

The Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words will spotlight this storied history whilst exploring the ability of words to shape our world. From the ways that words can shift the balance of power, through the control of words by censorship or through freedom of speech, to the shift in communication and knowledge driven by technology and AI, the themes that the Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words will explore have never been more relevant or important.

The Festival programme will feature events spanning current affairs and journalism, fiction, screenwriting, poetry and spoken word, and family and children’s events. The first events announced as part of the Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words are:

• Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri on new novel Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted.

• Kate Mosse OBE on the history of the Women’s Prize as it celebrates its 30th year, and the 20th anniversary of the first publication of her groundbreaking novel Labyrinth.

• Screenwriter Ed Docx and author Mick Herron on the process of bringing TV hit Slow Horses from book to screen.

• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Iain Dale, and Sir Richard Evans discuss history’s lessons from the careers of its most notorious Dictators .

• Jeremy Vine presents new crime fiction series, Murder on Line One, alongside fellow broadcaster and writer Simon Mayo who discusses gripping thriller Black Tag.

• Kate Loveman taps into the history of Fleet Street Quarter with a talk on Samuel Pepys’ Diary.

• Nick Wallis (The Great Post Office Scandal) and Caroline Wheeler (Death in the Blood) appear in an event which spotlights the power of long-form investigative journalism.

• Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces, Professor Tracy Borman OBE on the real Wolf Hall and the life of Thomas Cromwell.

• Breakfast events with The Times and the Daily Telegraph to explore the biggest news headlines for the day.

I am thrilled to be headlining this new Fleet Street Quarter literary festival. Taking place in the legendary street of journalism, this promises to be an intriguing festival that brings together two great needs of our times, truth and storytelling. – Ben Okri

Along with established and emerging authors of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, the programme will bring together broadcasters, journalists, screenwriters, spoken word artists, and voices from social media, reflecting the many ways that we engage with words and ideas in our day to day lives. The Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words encompasses both a fresh look at the dynamic history of Fleet Street Quarter, whilst also providing a space for exciting new talent, and discussion of the urgent issues facing us today.

The Wednesday to Friday programme will include breakfast news events; lunchtime panels; and both early and late evening talks. Saturday will see a packed programme for adults and children with a wide variety of topics and event formats.

The full programme will be announced in March 2025, along with information on ticket sales.

Lady Lucy French, CEO Fleet Street Quarter, said:

The Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words celebrates the transformative power of words to shape the world. We are delighted to bring such a phenomenal array of speakers to the Fleet Street Quarter – the place where stories have always been born – for its inaugural edition. Drawing on the rich history of the area and its longstanding ties with the media and publishing industries, this is a chance to discover exciting new voices as well as the year’s most anticipated books, and to hear experts and journalists debating the big issues of the day. This Festival is a celebration of the culture and history of this iconic part of London and embodies our vision of putting Fleet Street Quarter back on the map, inspiring and engaging visitors and our community.

Festival Director, Damian Collins OBE – author, former Chair of the House Select Committee for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, and MP for Folkestone and Hythe from 2010 to 2024, adds:

Fleet Street is known around the world as a centre of news, ideas and great storytelling, and is therefore the perfect setting for this festival. We are building a programme that embraces all forms of expression from the best of non-fiction and fiction books, to journalism, screen writing and the spoken word. So come to Fleet Street once again, to get the word on the street.

Fleet Street Quarter are also pleased to announce the News Media Association as session sponsors for the first edition of the Festival, with partnership support from the Royal Television Society.

The festival has been created with the support of an Advisory Panel of individuals from the culture and media sectors:

• Nick Addyman, founder and Chair of Laurus Law and former board member of the English National Opera

• Diane Banks, literary agent and Chief Executive of Northbank Talent Agency

• Lord Black of Brentwood, Deputy Chairman, Telegraph Media Group

• Tim Bouverie, history writer and broadcaster

• Baroness Beeban Kidron, film and television director (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; Oranges are Not the Only Fruit) and member of the House of Lords

• Florence King, Lady Mayoress of the City of London

• Simon Kingston, Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates and creator of the West Cork History Festival

• Alex Macqueen – film and television actor (The Thick of It; The Inbetweeners)

• John Nicolson, journalist, broadcaster and politician

• Sarah Richardson, Senior advisor to the Global Innovation Fund and former Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster

• Dr Damian Tambini, Distinguished Policy Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE

In Fleet Street Quarter the first commercial presses were licensed by the Stationers Company; Dr Johnson wrote the first English dictionary; Samuel Pepys was born; Charles Dickens worked; and Shakespeare’s First Folio – a monumental collection of his plays including Macbeth, Twelfth Night and The Tempest – was first registered within the historic Stationers Hall.

Famously it was the epicentre of the British newspaper industry for over a century and was the first location for LBC Radio. Fleet Street Quarter is also a thriving neighbourhood, home to cultural institutions, hotels, restaurants, bars, and cafés. These will provide varied experiences and event formats for the festival, from intimate pop-ups to larger auditoria.

Visitors will discover new places within the City of London whilst also enjoying stimulating talks and events from a broad range of speakers to cater to all interests.