Candice Carty-Williams, Corinne Bailey Rae, Wretch 32 and Maggie Aderin-Pocock headline the Black British Book Festival at the Barbican on Sunday 4 October, with more than 80 authors across 35-plus events in a single day.
Europe’s largest celebration of Black literature returns for a fifth edition and a third consecutive year at the Barbican Centre, landing on the opening weekend of Black History Month. It has sold out every year since it launched in 2021, so the useful advice is to book early rather than to think about it.
Founder Selina Brown was named the UK’s inaugural National Reading Hero earlier this year and awarded The Queen’s Reading Room Medal for her work widening access to books. What she’s built in five years has grown well past a festival: school programmes, grassroots workshops, an annual takeover of Manchester Central Library, and two permanent community libraries in Croydon and Lewisham giving free access to hundreds of titles by Black British writers.
Who’s on the bill
The four headliners are novelist Candice Carty-Williams, Grammy-winning musician Corinne Bailey Rae, rapper and songwriter Wretch 32, and the space scientist and broadcaster Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Previous years have brought Zadie Smith, Sir Lenny Henry and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, which tells you the level this operates at.
What lifts the programme is how far it strays from author-in-conversation. There’s the Black Poetry Shutdown, a live book club with NAO, an interactive murder mystery run by bestselling author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and a set from garage and grime pioneers Heartless Crew.
The one we’d clear the diary for is Jason Arday: Race, Power & the Price of Public Scrutiny, a conversation with Dr Kehinde Andrews, Nels Abbey and Kelechi Okafor on race, media power, academia and how Black public figures get treated. That’s a genuinely serious panel to programme on a Sunday afternoon, and a good sign of what the festival thinks its audience wants.
A new route into publishing
Launching at this year’s festival is a Black British Book Festival and Pan Macmillan collaboration, built as a community-led route towards publication for emerging writers. Pan Macmillan has been headline sponsor for all five years.
It exists because of a number Brown keeps putting in front of the industry. Just 14 Black authors appeared in the UK’s top 1,000 authors by sales across the first 24 weeks of 2026, taking 0.9% of that group’s revenue, according to analysis reported by The Bookseller.
At BBBF, we see the demand firsthand. We have sold out every year for five years. Thousands of people come to buy books, discover writers and bring their children into reading. The audience is here. The talent is here.
Selina Brown, founder and CEO, Black British Book Festival
For writers, and for children
A run of practical sessions covers securing a book deal, children’s publishing, self-publishing and building a writing career that pays. If you have a manuscript in a drawer, that’s the part of the day to plan around.
The children’s programme runs all day alongside it, with storytelling, crafts, science and music. Sessions include Rasta Granny’s Rainbow, Maya & Marley: The Friendship Adventure, Kid Rex to the Rescue!, Create Your Own Crown and Save the Planet!
Its continued growth and five consecutive sold-out festivals demonstrate the appetite for Black British stories and for cultural spaces that bring together different generations, disciplines and communities.
Karena Johnson, Head of Creative Collaboration and Learning, Barbican
The London x London Take: £20 for a headline event plus the run of the programme is one of the better cultural deals in London this autumn, and the range is the point. You can go from a murder mystery to a space scientist to Heartless Crew without leaving the building. Buy the books while you’re there, though. Five sell-outs prove the audience exists; the sales charts are the only argument publishing actually listens to.
Need to know
- Where: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
- When: Sunday 4 October 2026
- Price: Festival passes £20, covering one headline event plus the wider programme of 30-plus events, subject to capacity. VIP passes £45, including all four headline events
- Booking: barbican.org.uk
- More: blackbritishbookfestival.com
Planning further ahead? Our guide to the best exhibitions in London has the rest of the autumn cultural calendar.
