The New Yorker Festival 2026 event image
Multiple venues, Manhattan

The New Yorker Festival 2026

The New Yorker's annual ideas festival returns October 23–25 with live conversations, performances and screenings pairing the magazine's writers with headliners from film, politics, music and literature.

Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

See all this weekend's NYC picks

Nowhere else do you watch the best interviewers in American journalism work in real time — the festival's conversations routinely make news. The range in one weekend is absurd: a movie star Friday night, a Supreme Court reporter Saturday morning, a live band taping by Sunday. Individual event tickets mean you can cherry-pick exactly the rooms you want to be in.

What to expect

Ticketed single events (usually 60–90 minutes) across multiple Manhattan venues over three days: onstage interviews, panels, screenings with Q&As, and occasional live performances.

Good to know

  • The speaker lineup and individual event tickets are announced on festival.newyorker.com — typically in September
  • Events sell individually; the biggest names sell out immediately at on-sale
  • Venues are spread across Manhattan — check each ticket for its location
  • New Yorker subscribers historically get early ticket access
  • Same weekend as Halloween-season events citywide; book dinner reservations early

Going? Keep it.

📅 Add to calendar

Get NYC weekend picks every Friday

One email a week. Unsubscribe anytime.

See a sample issue →

Common questions

When is The New Yorker Festival 2026?

October 23–25, 2026, at venues around Manhattan, per the festival's official site.

How do tickets work?

Each conversation, screening, or performance is ticketed individually; the lineup and on-sale details post on festival.newyorker.com, and subscribers typically get a presale window.