Leeds International Festival of Ideas. 6

Thank you for attending the 6th Edition of Leeds International Festival of Ideas.

LIFI mailer

LIFI26 speakers included:

+ All speakers

Musician, Actor, Writer and Comedian

Broadcaster and Sunday Times Best-Selling Author

Documentary-maker

Author, Journalist and Broadcaster

Broadcaster and Campaigner

Broadcaster

Broadcaster and Author

Former MP

Solo Percussionist and Composer

Presenter, Entrepreneur & Advocate

Journal

19 October, 2026 Field notes

LIFITV Episode 1: Harriet Rose on interviewing Louis Theroux

She’d just opened LIFI26 in conversation with one of the great interviewers. We caught her the moment she came off stage.

15 October, 2026 Insights

The Aftermovie: Thank You For Coming

56 speakers, five days, 14 events and over 6,000 people at Leeds Playhouse. Here’s the week in one film.

10 October, 2026 Latest

Top Takeaways from Tim Minchin

The recurring argument was that creativity is less about waiting for inspiration than about showing up and doing the next small thing.

7 October, 2026 Latest

Top Takeaways from Elizabeth Day

Elizabeth Day, whose How to Fail podcast has spent the best part of a decade asking well known people what they got wrong, sat down with performance psychologist Jamil Qureshi to make the case that failure is not the opposite of success but a precondition for it.