Children’s Book Festivals and Events

Literary festivals and events
Children’s book festivals and events – below is a calendared list of children’s book festivals, events, and wider movements and causes that are ideal for schools to promote to primary and secondary-aged pupils in the context of literature and opportunities for creative writing.

There is a range of single-day, week-long, and themed months to help school leaders and coordinators create whole-school awareness and target particular causes each term.

Enlivening a curriculum throughout the year with gifted and talented opportunities and exit pathways is essential to promoting literacy across a school. If you would like your event or festival added to this list, do let us know.

January

February

March

April

May

June

  • Essex Book Festival – “Each year the festival hosts 100+events in a range of venues across Essex.”
  • Bradford Literature Festival. This 10-day festival ‘celebrates the written and spoken word in all its forms‘ and includes family days out, workshops and an education programme with resources for teachers. There are lots of children’s events featuring top authors and illustrators.
  • Barnes Kid’s Lit Festival (London)
  • St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature aims “to inspire a community that embraces reading for pleasure“, and includes a variety of events, author readings, book signings and a creative writing competition.
  • WhizzFizzFest – inspired by Roald Dahl
  • National family week
  • World Environment Day – “Let’s get active, not anxious. Let’s be bold, not timid. Join #GenerationRestoration“.
  • Empathy Day – established to help show how “important it is that we understand what other people are going through“.
  • National Writing Day – established as an “annual celebration of creative writing“, and supported by First Story and the National Literacy Trust.
  • Pride MonthStonewall offers a useful range of free activities for schools.
  • School Diversity Week – “a fantastic way to make your school safer, happier and more welcoming for pupils who may be LGBT+“.
  • Windrush Day 2022 -“celebrating Great Britain’s DNA“.

July

August

September

October

November

December

All year round / undated / not annual


For more competitions and events, have a look at our children’s competitions for public speaking and reading aloud, our list of children’s literature awards, our recommended children’s writing competitions and our suggested GCSE revision books for English language and literature exams.
This page was last updated on Oct 15, 2023 @ 5:21 pm.



About Tom Tolkien

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Tom Tolkien is an experienced teacher and educational consultant who taught for 20 years in primary and secondary schools, including Woodleigh School in North Yorkshire, where he was Head of English and ran a 4000 book prep school library for pupils aged 3-13. He now reviews books for children and teens. Social profiles: Twitter | Linkedin