A new literary festival celebrating women as writers and as readers launched as part of International Women’s Day weekend, Saturday 7th – Sunday 8th March 2026.
Oswestry will be the venue for the inaugural weekend of an exciting new literary festival this March. Scheduled to coincide with International Women’s Day on Sunday, 8th March, the Excellent Women Festival takes its name from one of the most popular novels by Oswestry born novelist, Barbara Pym.
The Excellent Women Festival’s exciting programme will bring together more than 20 authors including best-selling novelists, biographers and non-fiction writers, and there will even be a Traitor contestant in the mix. The long-held dream of Booka Bookshop’s Carrie Morris and broadcaster and author event host Caroline Lang, the Excellent Women Festival will be held at The Holroyd Community Theatre.
The festival opens on Saturday 7 March with the Excellent Women Dinner with tables hosted by a rich array of Shropshire based novelists and writers including Sunday Times best-selling writer Lucy Easthope, The Times and Sunday Times ‘Top Pick’ author, Annie Garthwaite and Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling crime novelist Clare Mackintosh.
On Sunday 8 March highlights include:
Naz Shah MP – talking about her highly anticipated autobiography: Honoured: Survival, Strength and My Path to Politics.
‘Mother Courage’: a diverse panel of writers discuss the challenges of combining motherhood and the world of work.
The Excellent Women Lecture with Dr Paula Byrne whose best-selling biographies include Jane Austen and Barbara Pym.
‘What Women Want’…..: an exploration of what women want when it comes to reading with cosy crime murder mystery writer, digital creator, stylist and Country Living columnist Paula Sutton, best-selling romantic fiction author and former fashion journalist, Karen Swan and former barrister turned crime fiction writer, Harriet Tyce.
More information and tickets are available through Booka Bookshop’s events page: https://www.bookabookshop.co.uk/future-events/.
Follow on Instagram: @excellentwomenfestival
