Big names, bold ideas and local talent will take centre stage as the Ealing Book Festival returns to the borough at the end of the month, and there are free tickets up for grabs for Around Ealing readers.
The 5-day event, which runs from Wednesday 29 April to Sunday 3 May, promises an exciting programme of activities.
And, we have teamed up with the festival organisers to offer 10 lucky Around Ealing winners a pair of tickets to join author and actor Stephen Mangan and his illustrator sister Anita Mangan for games, stories and draw-alongs on Saturday 2 May.
A star-studded line-up
Visitors can expect to be impressed by an exceptional line-up of international best-selling authors, including: William Boyd, Jung Chang, Anthony Horowitz, Robert Macfarlane, Blake Morrison, and upcoming talents Oyinkan Braithwaite and Lucy Steeds. There will also be a local authors’ showcase, events for families and schools and even guided walks. Events are set to take place at the University of West London, Questors Theatre and Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.
Now in its third year, the festival also runs a dedicated programme encouraging the borough’s young people to get creative. This year, 5 of the borough’s primary schools will open the festival with a special recital.
As part of the festivities, there’s also a special free family day on Saturday 9 May for children aged 3-12 years old at The Dominion Centre in Southall. The day features 2 story time events with local children’s book authors and a poetry workshop with Narvir Singh. Tickets are free but booking via the Ealing Book Festival website is recommended.
Catherine Jaquiss, Ealing Book Festival’s chairperson, said: “The 2026 Ealing Book Festival promises one of our most exciting programmes yet, with a truly inspiring line-up of significant and well-known authors. This year, our partnerships with the University of West London and Questors Theatre allow us to welcome significantly larger audiences to our most popular events, while our continued collaboration with Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery offers a dedicated programme of culturally inspired talks.
“We remain enormously grateful for the generous support of local businesses and the wider community, without whom the Ealing Book Festival would not be possible.”
Competition: win tickets
You can be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to one of the events. Ealing Book Festival is offering Around Ealing readers the chance to win one of 10 pairs of tickets for ‘Welcome to Weird Street’ with sibling duo Stephen and Anita Mangan. It is due to be held at Questors Theatre, in Ealing, on Saturday 2 May at 2pm. The event is for over-7s and each pair of tickets allows entry for 1 adult and 1 child.
To be in with a chance of winning, you must correctly answer the below question and email your answer to aroundealing@ealing.gov.uk before the deadline of 23:59pm on Tuesday 28 April 2026.
Please include your name and contact details, and use the subject line ‘Ealing Book Festival competition’, or your entry might not be counted.
Question: what date is Ealing Book Festival’s special, free family day this year?
The winners will be selected, at random, from those entries correctly answering the question, on Wednesday 29 April. Only the winners will be notified. Please see full terms and conditions below.
Visit the Ealing Book Festival website for full programme information and to book tickets.
Find out more about cultural events across the borough, as well as arts and culture news stories, on Ealing Council’s culture website.
Terms and conditions
After the deadline has passed (at 23:59pm Tuesday 28 April), the winners will be digitally selected at random, before being contacted by email on Wednesday 29 April. Only the winners will be notified. Because of the immediacy of the event, if any of the winners do not respond by email by 5pm on Thursday 30 April, a new winner will be drawn at random instead and awarded the prize.
Your contact details will be used for the purpose of administering the competition and contacting the winners to notify them of the prize. And, if you are a winner, we may also need to pass your contact details on to the organisation/company/individual that is due to provide you with the prize in order for you to claim it.
The entry deadline and the random selection of the winner is final and binding in all respects on all entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.
Entries that do not comply in full with these entry terms and conditions may be disqualified. If a winning entry is disqualified for any reason, the council reserves the right to award the prize to another entrant.
There is no cash alternative to the prize. The council does not accept any liability on behalf of any third party supplying the prize. Some terms and conditions of the third-party supplier may also apply to the prize.
Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions by entering this competition.
