Leeds International Festival of Ideas has revealed the full line-up for its sixth edition, with Louis Theroux, Elizabeth Day, Chris Packham CBE, Roman Kemp, Vicky Pattison, James O’Brien, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Megan McKenna among the amazing names heading to Leeds Playhouse from 6-10 October 2026.
Theroux, one of the most distinctive broadcasters of our time, opens the festival on Tuesday 6 October with an intimate fireside chat at Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry stage. Four decades of social commentary, from far-right militias to Scientologists, porn stars to convicted criminals, the rich, the broken, and the misunderstood in one night, in Leeds — before Tim Minchin closes proceedings on Saturday 10 October with a career-spanning conversation taking in Matilda the Musical, three decades of songwriting, and Minchin’s refreshingly clear-eyed views on living a creative life.
Across the week, hosts Samira Ahmed, Chris Packham, Miranda Sawyer, Joe Tidy, Laura Hamilton, Amy Irons, Harriet Rose, Jamil Qureshi, Dr Hannah French and Larry Budd lead a programme of fireside chats and panel discussions tackling the questions defining the moment: the future of the planet, belonging in modern Britain, the legacy of the 90s, the future of parenthood, suicide and masculinity, social media, failure, and what it means to live a creative life.
Closing the festival on Saturday 10 October is Tim Minchin, the world-renowned musician, actor, writer and comedian behind “Matilda the Musical” and “Groundhog Day”, for a career-spanning conversation on staying creative in a chaotic world. Earlier in the week, naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham CBE asks why the environment has slipped down the political agenda; double GRAMMY-winning solo percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, profoundly deaf since childhood, shares a journey that redefines the sound of success; and TV presenter, broadcaster and Heart Radio host Vicky Pattison joins the panel asking whether kids are still part of the plan, while Sunday Times bestselling author and “How to Fail” podcaster Elizabeth Day brings her chart-topping conversation on resilience and self-limiting beliefs to the Quarry on Wednesday 7 October, and on Friday 9 October, singer, TV personality and “X Factor: Celebrity” winner Megan McKenna joins the panel, asking whether it’s finally time to switch off social media, a frank conversation on influencer culture, doomscrolling, and the platforms shaping modern life from someone who has lived inside them.
Martin Dickson, festival director, said: “Getting Louis Theroux to Leeds is a real moment for this festival and this city. He’s one of the defining broadcasters of his generation, and the kind of name LIFI has been building towards for four years. But this is a programme with serious depth beyond the headline — Tim Minchin, Elizabeth Day, Chris Packham, Samira Ahmed, Miranda Sawyer, five days of conversation you genuinely cannot get anywhere else in the country. LIFI has always been about bringing the brightest minds to Leeds and giving the city a stage that punches above its weight. LIFI26 does exactly that.”
