Empathy Day Festival 2026
Thursday 4 June to Thursday 11 June 2026
EmpathyLab's festival uses books and creative activities to explore other perspectives. The 2027 festival is planned for June; exact dates are pending.
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Dates and event details
Thursday 4 June to Thursday 11 June 2026. Held dates set by the organiser each year.
| Date status | Date source-confirmed for 2026 |
|---|---|
| Date-check source | EmpathyLab |
| Where | UK |
What is Empathy Day about?
EmpathyLab uses reading to encourage people to consider feelings, listen and explore perspectives beyond their own. The celebration combines books with practical activity: discussing a character’s choices, paying attention to someone else’s view and deciding how to act on what has been learned.
The organisation also publishes a Read for Empathy collection, with guides for different age groups. It can help teachers, librarians and families choose a starting text rather than build an activity around an unfamiliar book at the last minute.
The 2027 Empathy Day Festival is planned for June; its exact dates are awaiting verification. The most recent confirmed festival took place from 4 to 11 June 2026, with Empathy Day on 11 June. The dates attached to this listing refer to that confirmed 2026 edition.
Empathy Day is EmpathyLab’s annual June celebration of using books, stories and creative activities to explore other people’s perspectives. Its wider festival offers ways for schools, libraries, bookshops, early years settings and families to participate in the UK and beyond.
When is the next Empathy Day?
The exact 2027 Empathy Day and festival dates are awaiting verification. EmpathyLab has confirmed that its 2027 Read for Empathy guides will be published in February for use ahead of the festival in June. Its official pages reviewed for this listing do not yet provide an exact 2027 day or festival date range.
Plan provisionally for June, and check EmpathyLab’s official festival information before sending invitations or printing a date. The organisation’s annual festival and book collection provide useful starting points for activities throughout the year.
Ideas for a classroom or library
- Read a short passage together. Pause at a moment when a character faces a choice. Ask what the text tells you about that person and what remains uncertain.
- Explore two perspectives. Invite pupils to describe the same scene from another character’s point of view. Encourage them to explain which details in the story support their ideas.
- Practise listening. Give pairs a simple, low-pressure topic to discuss. Each person can then summarise their partner’s view and check whether they understood it correctly.
- Turn reflection into a practical action. Ask the group to choose something specific that would help people feel included in the classroom or library, then return to the idea later.
Choose texts and questions that suit the children’s ages and your setting. Allow pupils to write, draw or talk in small groups, and make room for different interpretations. A discussion about a fictional character does not require anyone to share something private about their own life.
Taking part with families and community groups
A shared story can support a short family conversation: which character did you understand best, whose actions surprised you, and what might you ask them? It is fine for readers to disagree. Spend time exploring the reasons behind an answer rather than searching for a single approved response.
A bookshop, library or community group could create a small reading display and invite people to recommend a title that helped them see something differently. Add short recommendations in the readers’ own words, with permission. A reading group could compare how different people responded to one scene.
For a workplace book group, keep the activity voluntary and choose material that people can access in time. A short extract may work better than expecting everyone to finish a whole novel. Use the conversation to practise attentive listening and curiosity about a colleague’s interpretation.
