About the festival

How to book
The Guernsey Literary Festival is one of the highlights of the island’s arts calendar bringing some of the world’s greatest writers, speakers and thinkers to Guernsey. With events for all interests and ages, the Festival is a unique opportunity to come together to celebrate the written word.

The festival attracts speakers from a wide range of disciplines, from literature to politics, from history to sport, from the environment to food, from biography to travel. We also organise a full education and community programme, together with workshops for local writers with renowned visiting authors.

Discovered by writers like Victor Hugo and Mervyn Peake, the Bailiwick of Guernsey's beauty and history makes it the perfect literary travel destination.

The Guernsey Literary Festival is a not for profit organisation and registered charity, run by volunteers and is supported by generous and committed sponsors, patrons, members and partners.

The Festival Team

The Guernsey Literary Festival is a non-for profit organisation and registered charity run by a group of volunteers and board of directors.

Festival Team (Steering Group)

Claire Allen, Adam Bayfield, Livia Blücher, Maz Campbell, Paul Chambers, Eileen Chapman, Diane Colton, Niki Cleal, Paul Creed, Melissa Hardwick, Jess Ingles, Rick James, Huw Lewis-Jones, Hollie Lanyon, Laura McKerrell, Nick Le Messurier, Martha Noonan, Gillie Revill, Rachael Taylor-Blake, Ruth Thomason, Holly Watkins, Anne Wilkes-Green.

Festival Board

Claire Allen, Livia Blücher, Tony Gallienne, Jacqui Golden, Sharon Parr, Mandi Rutter, Rob Shepherd (Chair), Ruth Thomason, Dallas Courtney-Warren.

Patrons

Thank you to the following patrons:

Livia Blücher, Michael Brown, Evelyne Burke, James & Georgina Ede-Golightly, Michael & Heather Fattorini, Tessa Hall, Tony & Susie Gallienne, Connie Helyar-Wilkinson, Jon & Pauline Moulton, Kay Parnwell, Larry Malcic and Felicity Quevâtre- Malcic, Craig & Janette Robert, Christopher & Lavinia Storey, Nadine Stares and David Warr.

Event Hosts & Guest Curators

With thanks to all our event hosts including Vassos Alexander, Adam Bayfield, Livia Blücher, Jill Clark, Paul Chambers, Jim Delbridge, Holly Farrell, John Fernandez, Patrick Gale, Nick Le Messurier, Felicity Quevâtre-Malcic, Joni Nettleship, Keith Pengelley, Sophie Raworth, Deputy Bailiff Jessica Roland, Rob Shepherd and Ruth Thomason.

The following Guest Curators have kindly shared their insights and expertise to the programming team and will also be chairing Festival events.

Steve Foote

Steve Foote is the founder of local publisher Blue Ormer, CEO of the Priaulx Library and Editor of The Review of the Guernsey Society. He is passionate about celebrating local history, and the impact that the Bailiwick has had on the world - and, through Blue Ormer, providing a platform for local literary talent and books on local subjects.

Gerry Foley

Gerry Foley is a regular chair at book festivals across the UK and Ireland. While most of his career was spent as a broadcast political correspondent at Westminster, he has also worked in Dublin and Belfast. In 2025 alone, he interviewed Lord Jonathan Sumption, Sir Tony Robinson, Tim Marshall, Kirsty Wark, Iain Dale and Lord Graham Brady. He also chatted to novelists John Boyle, Joanne Harris, BA Paris, Rachel Joyce and Richard Ford, amongst others.

Sarah Montague

Sarah is lead anchor on BBC Radio 4’s The World At One, after previously presenting the flagship Today Programme for 18 years. She has also presents HARDtalk on BBC World Television for 25 years. In nearly three decades at the BBC Sarah has fronted many of its television news programmes, from Newsnight to BBC Breakfast and the News Channel. Sarah made the leap into journalism as a reporter and presenter at Channel Television in both Guernsey and Jersey before moving to the UK to join Reuters, Sky News, and then the BBC in 1997.

 

Toby Lichtig

Toby Lichtig is a journalist, broadcaster and the Fiction and Politics Editor of The Times Literary Supplement. He writes for a range of publications, including The TLS, Wall Street Journal and New Lines Magazine, and has appeared as a guest critic on various television and radio programmes. He has also worked as a producer, specialising in arts and serious factual documentaries.

Hannan MacInnes

Hannah MacInnes is a broadcaster, journalist and podcast host known for her insightful conversations with global changemakers. She presents on Times Radio and is host of How To Academy’s live programmes and podcasts. Her interviewees include Bill Clinton, Melinda Gates, Jane Goodall, Jacinda Ardern and Louis Theroux. Hannah also hosts the Nibbies (British Book Awards) Podcast, The Klosters Forum Podcast and interviews on-stage at major literary events and climate summits, where her forensic curiosity and impeccable research lead to captivating content for her audience. She has written for the Radio Times, the Evening Standard and The TLS. Before going freelance she worked for eight years at BBC Newsnight where her agenda-setting investigations and on-air films included interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Helen Mirren and Mark Rylance.

Huw Lewis-Jones

Dr Huw Lewis-Jones is a polar-exploring author and naturalist who grew up in Guernsey. He now lives in Cornwall where he is a professor at Falmouth University, teaching natural history and other creative things. Huw also travels to the Arctic each year working as an expedition leader. He has written numerous books for adults, and most recently for children too, including an award-winning nature non- fiction series and the bestseller Clive Penguin.