Autumn in Sheffield is pretty much synonymous with literary delights, as Off the Shelf festival of books, words and ideas returns to the city. The festival hosts a programme packed with talks and readings from world renowned authors and poets, famous folk off the telly, and a few knowledgable locals.
Each year, the festival absorbs audiences in topics ranging from pop music to politics, fine art to feminism.
Off the Shelf 2026 highlights:
- Booker Prize winning author Ben Okri whose latest work, Waking the Warriors, is set in a dystopian world of invading armies, terrified refugees and demotic tyrants
- Sheffield-based journalist Daniel Dylan-Wray presenting his musical love letter to the city with his new book Groovy, Laidback and Nasty, featuring 150 interviews with the likes of Pulp, Cabaret Voltaire and Self Esteem
- Five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Bradley Wiggins, sharing his journey of survival and self-discovery in his deeply personal memoir The Chain
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Guardian columnist Marina Hyde, chronicling absurd political times with her satirical new book, What a Time to Be Alive! Scenes from a Strange Age
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Much-loved stand-up comic and writer Lucy Porter, with her rallying cry to middle-aged women, Middle-Aged Women Get Sh*t Done
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Bradford West MP Naz Shah on her extraordinary journey from childhood trauma to national political life
- Neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow exploring how we survive in the face of AI
- Great Pottery Throwdown judge Keith Brymer Jones, whose book Firing Earth charts a personal history of ceramics
- Sheffield Poet Laureate Beth Davies premiering a poem commissioned specially for Off the Shelf to mark the end of her tenure and reveal the identity of her successor
- Roots and Futures interactive exhibition at the Winter Garden (18–21 October) celebrating diversity through history, heritage and storytelling
- Featured in
- Sheffield Festivals Guide
