Literary Festivals to Look Forward to This Month

09 Sep Literary Festivals to Look Forward to This Month

Although many in-person book and literary festivals have been cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis this year, plenty are moving online so you can participate in virtual events and author talks from the comfort of your own home.

Read on to find out more about a few of the book festivals we have to look forward to this month!

Chiswick Book Festival Online (10th – 14th September)

Instead of gathering in person, the Chiswick Book Festival will be running sessions on video, Zoom and in podcasts with a wide range of speakers, workshops and children’s events, including the Young People’s Poetry Competition.

The festival will be welcoming, among others, Mihir Bose, Peter Hennessy, Jeremy Vine, Amanda Craig, Mavis Cheek, Iain Dale, Hashi Mohamed, Oliver Soden, Jo Pratt, Steve Richards, Trevor Barnes and for the children’s festival, Konnie Huq, Rob Biddulph, Zoe Antoniades and Joshua Seigal.

Find out more about the Chiswick Book Festival here.

Henley Literary Festival (26th September – 4th October)

Henley Literary Festival is moving online, with over 40 events for adults and children covering fiction, sport, entertainment, politics, history and more. There will be between three and five events every day, with speakers including Graham Norton, Joanna Trollope, Michael Morpurgo, Countdown star Susie Dent and former England rugby international James Haskell.

Free events for children include Rob Biddulph with his record-breaking lockdown sensation Draw With Rob, David Baddiel and a Judith Kerr storytelling with Laura & Russell Brand, as well as schools events with Chris Riddell, Leila Rasheed and Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell.

Find out more about the Henley Literary Festival here.

Reading is Magic Festival (27th September – 2nd October)

The Reading is Magic Festival offers six days of free, inclusive and engaging digital events for schools and families with daily events from leading authors, such as multi-award winning children’s author and poet Joseph Coelho, and illustrators. There will also be a learning programme and online materials and resources to access.

The festival has been inspired by Cressida Cowell’s key message as the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate and creator of the How to Train Your Dragon series: “reading is magic, and magic is for everyone”.

Find out more about the Reading is Magic Festival here.

Book Clubs in Schools is now also running online alongside the usual programme. Get in touch for more information.

A big thank you to Tabby Ives for volunteering with us in and for writing this blog.