
Sherborne Travel Writing Festival
10 - 12 April 2026
While our horizons may have drawn in, travel writers have continued to reach out, rediscovering and reinterpreting the world for a new age. The Sherborne Travel Writing Festival, now in its fourth year, was the first travel literature festival to be held in the UK for many years and has developed its own unique character.
​​​
At its heart is the idea – and the timely theme – of empathy.
​
'Travel writers are bridge builders, venturing out into the world to understand different peoples, cultures and times. Empathy lies at the heart of our work, and the fundamental belief that through better understanding others we can better counter the division and isolation of the present day,'
writes festival founder and curator Rory MacLean.
​​
Join us in Dorset this coming April to travel on foot, by boat, with wolves, from the Holy Land to Kiev, in the company of twelve of the UK’s leading travel writers, thinkers, historians and broadcasters.
​​​​
with thanks to our main sponsors












2026 Festival Programme
Friday 10th April
17:00 – 18:00 Adam Weymouth – Lone Wolf
19:00 – 20:00 Tony Wheeler – Lonely Planet
Saturday 11th April
10:30 - 11:30 Mark Ashley-Miller – Harbours and their Masters
12:00 – 13:00 Ash Bhardwaj - Why do we travel?
14:00 – 15:00 Sophy Ibbotson – Oxus
15:30 - 16:30 Raja Shehadeh and Penny Johnson – Palestinian Walks
17:00 – 18:00 Margaret Busby – Part of the Story
19:00 – 20:00 Sara Wheeler – Jan Morris: A Life
Sunday 12th April
10:30 - 12:00 The Winner of the Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing
13:00 - 14:00 Jen Stout – Night Train to Odessa
14:30 - 15:30 Jonathan Drori – Around the World in 80 Trees
16:00 - 17:00 Peter Frankopan – The Earth Transformed

