The long-running Bloomsbury Festival returns with a packed programme of events, much of it free.
Turns out, London's most bookish quarter also knows how to party. This year's Bloomsbury Festival (17-19 October) brings together dozens of events, spanning local history and culture.
This year (the 19th festival) focuses on the stories of the area's streets, tied together under the theme 'The Paths we Tread'. Jane Palm-Gold gives a talk on the history of the rookery, and another on the songs of St Giles. Alec Forshaw examines the Bloomsbury of William Morris. Enjoy a walk around the historic trees of Brunswick Square, or 'ballad walks' around St Giles and Dickens's Bloomsbury.
Two art exhibitions are also highly site-specific:
"Artist Dryden Goodwin’s 'Quicken' explores drawing as a means to re-animate the presence of individuals from St Giles’ notorious past, realised as a series of etched metal plates installed among the throng of contemporary St Giles streets; and 'The Streets Of Bloomsbury and St Giles' features contemporary artistic responses to historic artworks and street songs, and depicting new interpretations of local life as lived in past centuries in the area."
Meanwhile, the festival's art will reach many more people than those attending events and exhibitions. A trio of sculptures by man-of-the-moment Michael Craig-Martin will enliven Russell Square throughout October.
The variety of event is impressive. The festival includes everything from bell-ringing at St Giles, to a Welsh market, to an audio play performed in the dark, to the alluringly named 'See it, Say it, Sorted, the Musical!'. The latter is part of a New Wave programme of theatre and music that will showcase some of the most impressive up-and-coming performers.
There's nothing square about Bloomsbury!
Bloomsbury Festival 2025 runs 17-19 October, with the Craig-Martin sculptures in place from 1 October. See website for individual event details and ticketing.
