text: The annual Aldeburgh Carnival in August has been held at least since 1892 and possibly since 1832, when "Ye Olde Marine Regatta" was mentioned. The focal point today is a carnival procession featuring locals and visitors dressed in homemade costumes and on floats, often with a topical or local theme. In the evening, a parade with Chinese lanterns and a firework display are traditional. The procession has been led for more than thirty years by Chief Marshal Trevor Harvey, also a Carnival Committee member for more than fifty years.
  The Suffolk Craft Society hold an annual themed exhibition in the Peter Pears Gallery over July and August, showing the work of its members.
  The town of Aldeburgh, or "Owlbarrow", is the setting of a series of children's illustrated books centred on Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) written by Kathleen Hale, who spent holidays in the town. Many illustrations in the books feature landmarks in the town, including the Moot Hall. The town features in the 1989 thriller Cross of Fire by novelist Colin Forbes, as do the nearby villages of Dunwich and Snape Maltings. James Herbert based his book The Jonah in the area, using several names represented in the local area for characters, including Slaughden.
  Aldeburgh (spelt there Aldborough) is the location of a key scene in Wilkie Collins's novel No Name, where Captain Wragge and Magdalen Vanstone enact their conspiracy against Noel Vanstone and Mrs Lecount. The town's Martello Tower is (1862) mentioned as a landmark. Aldeburgh also features in Joseph Freeman's novel Arcadia Lodge as "Seaburgh", and in the M. R. James story A Warning to the Curious. The Maggi Hambling sculpture appears in an early scene, as do various other landmarks.