Marlborough LitFest is delighted to announce its main event sponsor for 2026 as St Mary’s and St Margaret’s Calne. As a charitable arts organisation, LitFest depends on its partners and sponsors to help stage its annual festival; bring free events to children, families and the wider community; and take the joy and transformative power of reading to the current and next generation of readers. Bringing the legacy of George Michael and a new instalment of the beloved Cazalet Chronicles to the 17th Marlborough LitFest this year will be bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera and novelist Louisa Young, from 24 – 27 September 2026.
St Mary’s and St Margaret’s are two of Wiltshire’s leading independent schools, sharing a 27-acre campus in Calne. St Mary’s Calne has been a pioneer of girls’ education since 1873 and is one of the top boarding and day schools for girls in the UK. St Margaret’s is a nursery and prep school for boys and girls aged 2 to 11 years old, where every child can explore, grow and flourish academically and personally. At the heart of the schools is the stunning award-winning Lumi Library, where a love of books and reading for pleasure and for academic study flourishes.
St Mary’s has already hosted a number of LitFest free school events organised by the festival, demonstrating how meeting an author inspires schoolchildren to both read and to become writers themselves. Both Marlborough LitFest and St Mary’s and St Margaret’s share the ethos that reading for pleasure matters and is key to educational success and transforming lives. According to a National Literacy Trust 2024 Literacy Survey, twice as many young people who enjoy reading in their free time have above-average reading skills and perform better overall. Former Children’s Laureate, Frank Cotterell-Boyce (who appeared at LitFest in 2023) says: “When you share a book you’re giving a hug that will last the rest of their life because it anchors happiness and helps nurture resilience.”
The award-winning author of Empireland and a repeat visitor to Marlborough LitFest, Sathnam Sanghera’s latest book, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael, is a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of Britain’s best loved musicians. Part biography, part social commentary of Britain in the 80s and 90s, Sanghera explores the extraordinary life and legacy of the late pop icon through issues of fame, sexuality, identity, immigration and belonging.
Author Louisa Young carries the family torch following in the footsteps of her aunt Elizabeth Jane Howard’s iconic Cazalet Chronicles. Continuing the story of one of the most beloved families in British literature, familiar faces reappear and the legacy of the Cazalets carries on into the Swinging Sixties in The Golden Hours – the first of a new Cazalet trilogy. According to the Sunday Telegraph, “the Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families.”
Mary-Vere Parr, Chair of Marlborough LitFest, said: “We are thrilled to welcome St Mary’s and St Margaret’s Calne as LitFest’s new main event sponsor for 2026. It is exciting to be working with an organisation that shares our belief in the power and importance of reading and we look forward to developing our partnership.”
Mrs Anne Wakefield, Head of St Mary’s and St Margaret’s said: “I am delighted to extend our partnership with Marlborough LitFest in our joint ambition to extend a love of reading in all forms. Once again, LitFest has curated a first-rate programme of breadth and depth to both educate and entertain – it has become one of Wiltshire’s leading cultural annual events. I am proud that our partnership means LitFest can continue delivering its hugely important programme of free events to local children in and around Marlborough, which chimes well with our outreach programme, where our Sixth Form pupils volunteer at local primary schools and care homes for older people. Thank you to the volunteers and supporters of Marlborough.”
LitFest audiences are encouraged to sign up as a 2026 Friend of LitFest by Friday 26 June, in order to gain priority booking for festival tickets.
Marlborough LitFest has already announced historian and educationalist Sir Anthony Seldon, award-winning novelist Kit de Waal and 2026 Golding Speaker, Sebastian Faulks for its 2026 festival programme. Marlborough LitFest will return for its 17th year from 24–27 September; the full programme will be available in late June and tickets go on sale from early July. For more information click here.
Million Dollar Quartet at The Barn Theatre
