St Mary’s and St Margaret’s Calne is delighted to announce its partnership with the 2026 Marlborough LitFest, a charitable arts organisation bringing free events to children, families and the wider community with the aim of sharing the joy and transformative power of reading to the current and next generation of readers.
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.
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.’
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.’
Marlborough LitFest has already announced its first confirmed authors for 2026, including acclaimed novelist Sebastian Faulks as its 2026 Golding Speaker, historian and educationalist Sir Anthony Seldon and award-winning novelist Kit de Waal, author Sathnam Sanghera and novelist Louisa Young. The festival 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, visit www.marlboroughlitfest.org
