ESEA Lit Fest is back!
The UK’s award-winning East and South East Asian literary festival returns to Foyles Charing Cross Road on Saturday 20 September 2025 for a day of conversation, workshops, and book signings and a lunchtime bake sale hosted by Polly Chan's Bakehouse fundraising for Sesame Organisation.
Save the date!
This year’s festival programme will be announced shortly. Stay tuned for more details and tickets.
Featured in the Guardian, Harper's Bazaar and Elle, ESEA Lit Fest is a joyful, thought-provoking celebration of East and South East Asian literature and culture that’s open to all. Launched in 2023 by Maria Garbutt-Lucero and Joanna Lee, co-founders of the ESEA Publishing Network, in partnership with Foyles, it sold out two years in a row and has become an essential fixture in the UK literary events calendar, with events at the Southbank Centre, Edinburgh International Book Festival and The Times & Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival throughout 2025. Previous speakers include Pio Abad, Romalyn Ante, Tash Aw, Susan Barker, Kaliane Bradley, Troy Cabida, Elaine Castillo, Jeremy Chan, Catherine Cho, Xiaolu Guo, Will Harris, Helena Lee, Rebecca Liu, Thuận, Zing Tsjeng and Mandy Yin.