Byline Festival: Finding the Light in Dark Times

Byline Festival Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Byline Times, Stephen Colegrave reflects on eight years of bringing audiences together to find truth, defend democracy and have fun

When we set up Byline Festival in 2017, times were dark. The country had voted for Brexit, Trump had started his first term, made truth relative and coined the term“Fake News”. Like today, the world seemed a frightening place. Into this dark came a festival, bringing together thousands of people who discovered they weren’t alone and wanted to seek truth and defend democracy.

Over the ensuing eight years and eight festivals, Byline Festival has become a beacon of light. Many of our supporters have been on an amazing journey in those eight years and have made many friends, created projects, been inspired to take a more active role in politics and activism.

In 2017, Carole Cadwalladr acquainted many festivalgoers with Cambridge Analytica for the first time. Later that year, Carole joined our next festival in New York and met in person people who were also investigating this gaming of democracy for the first time. That festival was opened by legendary former Times editor, Harold Evans.

The following year, Carole brought Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, to the festival. That was also the first year that Pussy Riot came over from Moscow to perform at the festival, John Cleese and Alexei Sayle kept us laughing, and Gary Lineker was a guest speaker. At the same festival, Tom Watson, the then Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, acknowledged the existence of Russian Disinformation for the first time.

At the closing event, festival co-founders Peter Jukes and I announced we wanted to launch a paper, soon to be called Byline Times.

By our 2019 festival, Boris Johnson was in power and the extension of Trumpism to the UK was a key festival concern. Pussy Riot returned and were joined by The Feeling, Don Letts and founder of 2 Tone records, Jerry Dammers. Extinction Rebellion was a major part of the festival with its own venue. Copies of the newly launched Byline Times contained the festival programme.

Mothballed during Covid, Byline Festival blossomed back to life and moved to Acklam Village in the shadow of Grenfell in 2022. It showcased a major community art project about Grenfell and survivors of the tragedy featured in the programme. Rio Ferdinand was a special guest and Lord Adebowale opened the festival which included an interview with the Lord Dubs, a former Kindertransport refugee from the Nazi regime, who talked about the huge benefit refugees have made to Britain.

In 2023 and 2024, Byline Festival moved to Dartington Hall, South Devon, a relevant venue as it was where Michael Stevens wrote the first drafts of the manifesto for Clement Atlee for his 1945 election victory that changed the face of the country with the modern Welfare State and the NHS. It was especially important as, with an impending election in less than two years, another 1945 moment seemed within reach.

Indeed, the General Election was called for the night before the 2024 Byline Festival, and Dartington Hall enabled us to start early and run a live election Byline TV show. With a landslide Labour victory, the future looked much brighter, and the festival concentrated on what the new Government needed to do to rebuild Britain. The closing section featured a moving interview with Palestinian Journalist, Ahmed Alnaouq, who lost 21 members of his family in an Israeli military strike.

2025 – Bigger and More Accessible

Which circles us back to the 2025 Byline Festival at Keele University. Trump is back, Farage is on the up and the far right is making gains across Europe, while the American Presidency is making the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza even worse. Trump’s regard for Putin has changed the Transatlantic Alliance.

The biggest challenge is normalisation and people switching off from the news. The British press and media continue to feature the far right out of all proportion to its size. Far-right disinformation and provocation caused riots last summer and the same conditions still remain this year.

In many ways, times are even darker than when the first Byline Festival was launched in 2017 and the need for the festival is even greater. To enable more people to attend, we have moved the venue to Keele University that gives us greater capacity and accessibility from across the UK.

The 2025 Festival theme – Defending Truth and Democracy – has never been more important

Experienced journalists, Yasmin Alibhai- Brown, Peter Oborne, Peter Geoghegan and Hardeep Matharu will tackle the main theme in the opening panel on Friday 11 July, followed by a panel that will consider the changing relationship between Europe and America and its consequences.

The main Chapel talk stage will feature a series of 25 panel sessions and interviews that will probe a variety of subjects and focus on solutions rather than problems. Speakers will include Carole Cadwalladr, Carol Vorderman, Naz Shah MP, Lord Adebowale, Dawn Butler MP, Nazir Afzal, James Bloodworth, Alexandra Hall Hall, Heidi Siegmund Cuda, Annette Dittert, Anthony Barnett, Chris Steele, Kate Raworth and of course the Byline Times team.

More Than Just Talk

The 2025 festival is more than just a great talk programme. The Squirrel Venue has great literary talks and local and partner organisations. If you want to be more hands on, our workshops give you the opportunity to create your own protest poem or work of art. Legendary political cartoonist Martin Rowson will help you draw a political cartoon and you can be part of creating a festival art installation. Also, one of our most popular workshops will help you adopt a billionaire and help them do good. With over 3000 billionaires in the world there are plenty to go round.

Music and spoken word are an important part of Byline Festival and the Festival Café will showcase local poets and songwriters all day long. Tim Arnold is bringing his musical show – Super Connected – which highlights the dangers of phones for kids with a great music score.

Neal X from Eighties band Sigue Sigue Sputnik is bringing an All-Star band especially created for the festival with many big names. Local Nu-Marching band, KiLNE will get us dancing and indie rock band Names will inspire. DJ Smutty from legendary punk rockabilly band, Levi and The Rockats will perform in the garden and the Fuckaround Five Jazz Band will keep the beat going.

Comedy will be led by Rosie Holt presenting the Bad Press Awards and there will be two great comedy evenings. Asif Kapadia is bringing his thought-provoking film 2073 and staying on for a Q&A. The film programme will also include the feature length documentary, Breaking the West: A Pop Star, An Oligarch, A President and the Scandal that Rocked the World.

2025 Byline Festival, 11-13 July, at Keele University, will be a fascinating festival, a beacon of light in a dark time (and great fun too!)

For further information and the cheapest tickets www.bylinefestival.com