Maggie O’Farrell writes about the people we love, the lives we lose and the places that hold a family’s story. Her festival year offered the pleasure of hearing about a new novel alongside a conversation about a familiar book becoming a film. For a fan, those were two different doors into the same imaginative life.
Quick facts
Best known for
Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait
Genre or subject
Literary and historical fiction, memoir and children’s writing
O’Farrell writes adult fiction, memoir and books for children. Her work moves across forms and historical settings, with love, bereavement and loss among the concerns her official website traces through the novels. A reader can recognise an emotional thread across books whose people and periods are quite different.
Her writing has received major prize recognition: Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020, and The Marriage Portrait was also shortlisted. Those books have brought many readers into the wider body of work, where contemporary families and remembered lives sit alongside the historical fiction.
Headline’s Tinder Press published her latest novel in 2026. Its story of separation, survival and family draws Irish history into the relationship between people and place. For readers who enjoy returning to an author with a new book, that offered another landscape to enter while carrying the memory of earlier novels. Her year also brought the act of adaptation into the festival conversation, opening a different view of how a story reaches its audience.
Where to start with their books
After You’d Gone
O’Farrell’s debut is a love story and a starting point for readers who want to meet the earlier fiction. Its place at the beginning of her career makes it a way of exploring the writing beyond the historical novels that later brought many readers to her.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
A letter tells Iris that a great-aunt she has never heard of is about to leave a psychiatric institution. The mystery turns towards a family’s erased history, beginning with Esme’s unconventional life in 1930s Edinburgh.
This Must Be the Place
Her official backlist includes this novel of love and hope, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. It offers another way into the adult fiction if you want your festival reading to lead beyond the most familiar titles.
Festival appearances
For tickets, use the host festival’s official box office. Confirm the date, venue and access details before paying.
Edinburgh’s event on 30 August took place in Venue T. Cheltenham welcomed her to The Times and Sunday Times Forum on 10 October; Henley followed at the Marquee at Phyllis Court on 11 October.
Where to see them next
No 2027 appearances announced yet. Check the festival guides for programme dates.
Plan your trip
If you enjoy both the books and their screen life, leave time to talk afterwards about what each form lets you notice. A novelist and a producer can offer different perspectives on the same story, and you need not choose between loving a book and being curious about its adaptation.
For a new-novel visit, give yourself permission to read at your own pace. Hearing the writer can be the beginning of a reading experience as well as a way to reflect on a finished book. The guides below help you choose a comfortable base and keep your day centred on the conversation.
Which festivals featured Maggie O’Farrell in 2026?
The 2026 programmes featured Maggie O’Farrell at Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Henley Literary Festival; follow those guides for event information and practical visit details.
Did her festival year include a film conversation?
Use the festival links on Maggie O’Farrell’s profile for the event’s own ticket and audience guidance.
Do I need to read the newest novel before hearing her?
Reading first can make an author conversation feel like returning to people and places you already know. Listening first can also be a warm introduction. Choose whichever suits your reading, and avoid detailed plot discussions beforehand if you prefer discovering the story yourself.
How do I buy tickets for a later appearance?
Use the festival links on Maggie O’Farrell’s profile for the event’s own ticket and audience guidance.
