Canterbury Children's Literature Festival

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Canterbury Children's Literature Festival

Encouraging the enjoyment and kindling the joy of reading - Bringing Authors and Illustrators to the heart of Canterbury.

Help us to encourage children to find the pleasure of reading

05/06/2026

Calling all local schools!

Due to a couple of late cancellations we have some amazing FREE visits from authors on offer for you to book.

The amazing Eve Wersocki Morris has an afternoon session on Wednesday 8th July available, all about mystery stories.

On Friday 10th July, Lisa Williamson has a perfect event for Years 5-8 around her Bigg School series, focusing on the joys and trials of moving from primary to secondary schools.

Head to our website to book events!

03/06/2026

Come along to the beautiful (secret) room at on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July for some brilliant events!

Meet bestselling frenemies Bunny and Monkey as they visit Canterbury, get your photo taken and pick up your free copy of The Phoenix comic. You can also join in with some Bunny and Monkey crafts and learn to draw them! This event is kindly supported by and

Did you know that having someone read to you or tell you stories is incredibly good for your happiness levels? Join the brilliant for a fun and engaging Storytime on Sunday 12th July.

Both events are pay as you feel and you can book them now on our website. Tag your friends, and help us spread the word about the 2nd annual Canterbury Children's Literature Festival! Its going to be amazing.

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25/05/2026

We'll be starting off Saturday 11th July with some galactic hilarity with the Cosmic Cadets! Join at for a fun-filled event followed by a book signing

An interactive, imagination-fuelled workshop inspired by Cosmic Cadets, Ryan Crawford's colourfully illustrated adventure series.

This highly interactive workshop is designed to engage budding young writers and illustrators, by sharing Ryan's journey from being a kid who loved games and imagination to becoming a published author today. Children will explore how to find brilliant ideas everywhere – from funny moments to the things we love. Ryan will also show participants that every real-life experience can be described and transformed into an imaginative story.

Recommended for budding artists aged 6+, and their grown ups!

Browse the programme and book tickets for this and lots of other amazing events on our website.

16/05/2026

We cannot wait for Storytelling Yoga, a brand new addition to this year's festival programme!

Did you know that yoga not only helps your mental health, but actually makes your brain work better? According to Harvard Health, "When you do yoga, your brain cells develop new connections, and changes occur in brain structure as well as function, resulting in improved cognitive skills such as learning and memory. Yoga strengthens parts of the brain that play a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thought, and language."

The lovely Keely of will be running two sessions for anyone who wants to get moving and explore the wonderful world of stories in a new way. Designed for ages 3-7, older and younger children are welcome to come along too and enjoy a session of joyful stories and movement, with all equipment provided and no prior knowledge necessary!

All children must be accompanied by an adult, and there will be tea, coffee and a book stall to browse for adults who don't want to join in with the yoga.

Sessions are 3.30pm on Saturday 11th and 10am on Sunday 12th July, and you can book through our website

14/05/2026

We've added something new to our programme! Come and meet the amazing Bunny and Monkey, stars of Jamie Smarts Bunny vs Monkey series. Take a photo, and join in with some drawalong and craft activities too.

Each child attending will receive a free copy of The Phoenix comic, with huge thanks to The Phoenix comic and David Fickling Books for supporting this event 📚

Book your slot on our website now

09/05/2026

Venue Focus! Of course we wouldn't be celebrating our second year without our wonderful friends and returning partner venue

Chapters is a completely gorgeous cafe and bookshop in Sturry High Street, 2 minutes from Sturry stationand with direct access from Canterbury by bus and train, with level access throughout, accessible toilets with baby changing and yummy local snacks!
It's one of our smaller venues, and allows for small group events where everyone can get involved.

Swipe to see some of last years incredible events in the space...

Chapters will be hosting seven amazing events between Friday 10th & Sunday 12th July, with signings after each of them, and helping us out with providing book stalls at lots of the schools we are visiting with authors through the week. Here's what you can find happening there during the festival:

📚 Inspiring Storytime with Gemma Hunt, 4pm, Friday 10th July, all ages

📚 The Big Kids Bookish Quiz, 6.30pm, Friday 10th July, age 10+

📚 Cosmic Cadets with Ryan Crawford, 10.30am, Saturday 11th July, age 5+

📚 The Othernauts with Clare Pollard, 12.30pm, Saturday 11th July, age 7+

📚 How to Create a Comic with Madeleine Finlay, 2.30pm, Saturday 11th July, age 6+

📚 How to Do Paris with One Leg with Ella Dove, 12pm Sunday 12th July, age 8+

📚 We are Dragons with John Condon, 2pm, Sunday 12th July, all ages

Head to www.canterburykidslitfest.co.uk to browse the entire programme and book pay as you feel tickets

06/05/2026

Venue Focus! This year we are thrilled to have back as a partner venue for the Canterbury Children's Literature Festival. Let us tell you all about it!

The space we use for our events at Waterstones is actually on the 2nd floor, one up from their beautiful Children's section (which has fish!), cafe and toilets. Fully accessible with a lift, disabled toilets and baby change facilities, we will also be bringing along our festival sensory bags again with ear defenders and fidgets and the size of the store means there is somewhere to go for some quiet if you need it.

Swipe to see some of last years incredible events in the space...

Waterstones will be hosting seven amazing events between Friday 10th & Sunday 12th July, with signings after each of them, as well as running the book stall for our headline event, The World of Skandar with AF Steadman. Here's what you can find happening there during the festival:

📚 The Great Bookshop Hunt! - pick up a sheet from the Children's section and hunt the shop for all sorts of Bookish characters! Prizes for all!

📚 In Conversation with Lisa Williamson and Lisa Heathfield - 4.30pm, Friday 10th July

📚 Stitch Head with Guy Bass, 10am, Sat 11th July

📚 Storytime with Dean Atta, 12pm, Sat 11th July

📚 Birdlands with Anthony McGowan, 2pm, Sat 11th July

📚 In Conversation with Nathanael Lessore, 4.30pm, Sat 11th July

📚 Happy Hills with Sophy Henn, 11am, Sunday 12th July

📚 Storytime with Mama G, 1pm, Sunday 12th July

Head to www.canterburykidslitfest.co.uk to browse the entire programme and book pay as you feel tickets

04/05/2026

May the 4th be with you! We LOVE Star Wars here, and we wanted to share a little selection of Star Wars related books which are our favourites. Swipe to see. We particularly recommend Star Wars Shakespeare, and alongside these there are any number of related illustrated encyclopedias, fact books and a whole load of spin off novel series too.

Of course, stories aren't just in books, and there are 9 films (11, if we include Rogue One and Solo) and countless TV series to immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe.

We are spending the evening watching Episode 1 (some of us lost a vote to others of us). What's your story of choice this Star Wars Day?

02/05/2026

Meet authors, illustrators, storytellers, artists, actors and many more at Canterbury Children's Literature Festival, bringing the joy of stories to life with events for all ages from Friday 10th - Sunday 12th July 2026.

Stories are words on a page, but they're also drawings, animation, spoken, acted, and everywhere, in all of us. Discover something exciting as we go wild with stories....

With a broad programme of events for all ages in venues across Canterbury, Sturry and Herne Bay, you can mix and match your story-filled weekend with pay as you feel tickets, bookshop crawls, trails and more!

25/04/2026

Stories are for everyone! This is something we strongly believe, and we have created a programme which we think really reflects that for July 2026. Here are some things you need to know about our ticketing:

📚 the entire primary,secondary schools and youth group programme is provided to local schools and organisations completely free,with the festival covering the costs. This is to provide equal opportunity access for any local schools who want it.

📚 across the festival weekend the majority of our events are pay as you feel, with a low minimum price (mostly from £2-£6, with some no miminum) for child tickets and no minimum price for adults. Ticket revenue helps us keep the festival going, so if you can pay more please and if you can't then absolutely don't feel pressure to.

📚 Events at Wildwood, and the Midnight Puzzlers event at Canterbury Cathedral are free with your entrance ticket to the site, so head to their websites to book, and don't forget that Wildwood offers a membership well worth getting if you're local, and the Cathedral offers a pass for those working in Canterbury or who live within 4 miles of Bell Harry Tower.

One thing that remains annoying is that our ticketing platform STILL doesn't have an 'add to basket' feature, meaning you do have to checkout individually for each event you'd like to attend. We promise the events will be great and well worth the annoyance!

Address

Canterbury

Website

https://www.canterburykidslitfest.co.uk/

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