Still Recovering from the 2026 Bournemouth Writing Festival…
What a weekend.
The Bournemouth Writing Festival returned for its fourth year in 2026, and in doing so filled the town with a creative buzz that filled the streets, and spilled out into the gardens and the beach, as well as the official venues that hosted more than 100 events over the weekend.
The sun came out to match our yellow volunteer t-shirts and the vibe was positive and supportive across the board.
This year my volunteering stint started at Patch with the children’s activities. What a treat it was to see so many young people being inspired to pick up a pen or pencil and sit down to create their own stories.
A workshop run by local author Lorna Child, ‘Once Upon a Holiday’, was a highlight, and the children wrote stories about holidays with all sorts of unexpected twists. The use of stickers was optional but embraced wholeheartedly. A couple of stand out examples included a watermelon popping up in the middle of a sentence, and dinosaurs turning up in a haunted house.
Elsewhere, the Poetry Marquee was a hub of creative energy, with performances all weekend and free activities to take part in. On Sunday, Myriam San Marco’s Spoken Word Olympics saw two teams (Bournemouth and Elsewhere) go head to head in entertaining and creative battles.
The talks and workshops were diverse and selected to provide options for all attendees, no matter what stage of their writing career they are in. One chap I met on the Sunday had only decided to become a writer on Thursday. Other writers were selling their published books in the Writer’s Hive, meeting agents to discuss their work, celebrating their book launches, or seeking inspiration and advice.
Between now and next year’s festival at the end of April 2027, the team are busy organising other events including the Romance Writing Festival in the autumn. More information can be found here.
Were you at this year’s festival? Please let me know your highlights in the comments. Perhaps I’ll see some of you next year.
Getting organised ahead of the children’s activities at Patch in Bournemouth
One children’s author and one helper. Pencils sharpened, paper laid out. All ready for the children’s workshops.
One day… with editor Gary Dalkin’s help I am one step closer to fulfilling my own writing goals.
Spoken Word Olympics in full swing. Team Elsewhere busy creating a song lyric poem.
Bournemouth Writing Festival. Write by the sea, right by the sea. Until next year…