Special Guests: Ann Cleeves & Brenda Blethyn

Not one special guest to finish the 2026 festival, but two very special ones.

Ann Cleeves and Brenda Blethyn are the two remarkable creatives responsible for bringing one of crime fiction’s most iconic detectives to life.

DCI Vera Stanhope was a fixture on our TV screen for 14 years, reaching up to nine million viewers an episode, and of course, featured in 11 much-loved novels by Ann.Unconventional, relentless, abrasive, compassionate, and endearingly dishevelled, Vera delights readers and viewers as she solves murders amidst the rugged landscape of Northumberland.

Ann is the author of over 40 novels and has sold over five million books worldwide.

Her latest is The Dying Light, part of her Two Rivers series.

Brenda is one of the UK’s favourite actresses and a winner of a Golden Globe and a BAFTA and has been nominated for two Academy Awards and two Emmys.