Once again, the Idler Festival this July includes some of the UK’s most fascinating cultural and countercultural figures.
Prue Leith, Irvine Welsh, Jojo Moyes, Zakia Sewell, Chris Difford, Miranda Sawyer, Nigel Planer, Esther Freud, Ben Pope, Charlie Higson and other well-known and admirable writers, thinkers, performers and fellow idlers will gather at Fenton House and Garden in Hampstead from 10-12 July.
There’ll be three days of conversations, comedy, philosophy, workshops, yoga, music, dancing and merriment in the gardens and historic rooms of the seventeenth century National Trust Fenton House.
The dream-weekend is also hosting poetry salons, a classical DJ set from Georgia Mann, and at the orchard bar in the 300-year-old orchard, the Moro chefs will be serving Spanish Moroccan mezze dishes. There will also be food and refreshments available on the main lawn.
“As soon as you step onto the festival site, the pressure is off; everything is contained within the walled gardens and house and it’s easy to catch every conversation or performance on your wish-list,” says Festival Director Victoria Hull.
“Alternatively, if you are of a more idle bent, the Idler Festival is simply made for lounging, loafing and seeing where you end up. There will be dancing lessons, walks, singing, beekeeping and plenty of time to lie under an apple tree with a book and a drink.”
Victoria Hull established the Clerkenwell Literary Festival in 1998, which broke the mould of literary festivals at the time by merging underground culture with established writers. In 2011, she joined with the Idler magazine to launch the Idler Academy, selling books and producing live and online classes and events.
The Idler magazine, founded by Tom Hodgkinson in 1993, is well-known for its longstanding dedication to helping people have more fulfilled lives.
In 2016 Idler was relaunched as a magazine, having been an annual collection of essays. Hodgkinson, whose first book How to be Idle was rightly a global bestseller, came up with the magazine title inspired by the lazyish Dr Samuel Johnson and early editions of the Idler had the sub-title – Literature for Loafers.
Here are some words from the Idler Manifesto – “…We must defend our right to be lazy. It is in our idleness that we become who we are…Inaction is the wellspring of creation…Live slow, die old…Be idle!”
The Idler Festival is at Fenton House, Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, from 10-12 July 2026.
For tickets and more information about each day’s events: https://www.idler.co.uk/festival/
