Literature and music festival returns to Birmingham venue in 2026
The Heath Bookshop Literature and Music Festival is returning to Birmingham for 2026.
The biannual festival - in partnership with How Brave is the Wren and the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath – will take place from 15 to 19 April, 2026.
It is supported by National Lottery Project Grants funding through Arts Council England.
Based in Kings Heath, Birmingham, the festival is a celebration of the relationship between literature and music and will feature artists across both genres.
With solo acts, author events, specially commissioned performance pieces, children’s activities and music gigs, this diverse festival will showcase a host of talented artists.
New commissions for The Heath Bookshop Literature and Music Festival 2026 edition include, Grief is the thing with feathers (Saturday 18 April), a radical new dance adaptation of Max Porter’s award-winning novel from Beyond Words dance-theatre company which will be followed by an ‘in conversation’ with Max Porter.
Voices in the Making: Stories that Shape Us (Sunday 19 April) will present a powerful afternoon of poetry, storytelling and performance led by Ayan Aden, Birmingham’s Poet Laureate.
Carnival of the Animals with Sennet Brass (Saturday 18 April) will see the quintet joined by children who have created masks and instruments through workshops with How Brave Is The Wren.
The children’s programme, curated by Jenny Moore at How Brave Is The Wren, will include school visits, workshops, story times and author events such as Thiago de Moraes with Mighty Myths, a fun-packed introduction to the magnificent myths and legends of the world.
Plus, the first ever The Heath Bookshop Literature and Music Festival Open Mic Competition celebrating creativity, connection and performance with the final taking place at the Hare & Hounds with judges including Casey Bailey and Adele Oliver (Sunday 19 April).
The Open Mic Competition opens on 19 December 2025, keep an eye on social media for all the details, the deadline for entrants is 31 January 2026.
Music events will include a DJ set from former drummer of legendary band The Smiths, Mike Joyce, at the Hare and Hounds.
Mike will also be in conversation in an author event talking about his memoir, The Drums.
Catherine and Claire, co-owners of The Heath Bookshop, said: “We are so excited to be finalising the programme for the second biannual The Heath Bookshop Literature and Music Festival! We’ve been having fantastic conversations with talented artists based locally, in the Midlands and further afield and we think, hope, we will offer something for all you music and book lovers next April.
“We’ve new commissions from Ayan Aden, Birmingham’s very own Poet Laureate, we will be welcoming authors we’ve admired for a long time like Max Porter and be encouraging the next big thing in spoken word take centre stage with our Open Mic Competition.”
Returning author and friend of independent bookshops everywhere Robin Ince said: “I love the adventure of every indie – each one is like walking into the minds of those who run it – each one is a book I’ve never seen before – a local poet, a forgotten author – and The Heath Bookshop is a classic example of passion and curiosity.”
