IW Story Festival

25/03/2026

🌸✨ Spring has sprung… and so has your creativity! ✨🌸
Join poet & novelist Kathryn Rossati for a joyful mini creative writing workshop bursting with all the colourful magic of Easter and springtime 🌼🐣🌿

Think blooming flowers, fresh inspiration, and words that dance off the page 💐🖋️💫

In this uplifting session, you’ll dive into a series of playful, imagination-sparking exercises — the very same ones Kathryn used while creating her latest poetry collection, A Year of Wild Verse 📖🌷

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just fancy giving it a go, this is your moment to:
🌈 Spark your imagination
🌻 Write inspired by nature
✨ Have a laugh and enjoy the process
🎬 Watch on YouTube here:
👉 https://youtu.be/_8BkXTbpm0w 💻✨

Curious about the book? Have a peek here:
👉 https://www.nakedfigleafpress.com/ayearofwildverse 📚💚

Let your creativity bloom this spring! 🌸🔥

24/03/2026

✨ Who would YOU love to see in 2027? ✨

We might not be booking authors just yet, but we’d LOVE to start getting a feel for your dream line-up 👀📚

Drop your suggestions in the comments below ⬇️ — big names, hidden gems, returning favourites… we want to hear them all! 💬

Let’s start building the wishlist! 🌟

23/03/2026

📣 Notice of AGM – IW Story Festival 📣

We’re pleased to announce the Annual General Meeting for IW Story Festival 🎉

🗓 Date: Thursday 23rd April 2026
🕖 Time: 7:00pm
📍 Location: Newport Parish Centre, 6 Town Lane, Newport, PO30 1JU

This is a great opportunity to hear about the charity’s progress, including the Chair’s report, annual accounts, and trustee updates 📊

Agenda highlights:
✔️ Record attendance
✔️ Chair’s report
✔️ Approval of annual accounts
✔️ Appointment of auditors
✔️ Confirmation of trustees
✔️ Any other business

We’d love to see you there and welcome your support in shaping the future of IW Story Festival 📚✨

16/03/2026

Huge congratulations to Lucy Strange on The Boy at the Window being named Peter’s Children’s Book of the Year! 🎉📚👻

To celebrate, Barrington Stoke are giving away 3 signed copies of this brilliantly spooky story! And because the best ghost stories are always read out loud (preferably with the lights a little dim… 👀🕯️), Lucy would love these copies to find their way into upper KS2 or KS3 classrooms.

If you’re a teacher with a class that loves a good spine-tingling tale, head over to Lucy’s Instagram post to enter the giveaway!

👻 Spooky story lovers
📚 Classroom reading magic
✍️ Signed copies up for grabs
Enter here:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV04AmmDAh7/

Good luck… and watch the windows… 👀👻

To celebrate The Boy at the Window being Peters Children's Book of the Year, Barrington Stoke are giving away 3 x signed copies!

And because all good ghost stories should be read aloud, I'd love these free copies to end up in upper KS2 or KS3 classrooms!

If you're a teacher and your class loves spooky stories, head to my post on Insta to enter the giveaway! 👻👻👻
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV04AmmDAh7/?igsh=YTJ4dTB4YWU5azFv

12/03/2026

📚✨ And that’s a wrap on this chapter!

A huge thank you to all the amazing authors, readers, and book lovers who made this festival such a fantastic story. ❤️

But don’t close the book just yet…

The next story festival chapter begins in February 2027! 📖

In the meantime, we’ve got Stories in Schools coming up and a few other exciting events along the way, so there are plenty more pages to turn before then! 👀✨

Mark your calendars 🗓️, keep reading 📚, and keep an eye out for what’s coming next.

09/03/2026

📚✨ Happy Belated World Book Day! ✨📚

We’ve had the loveliest message that perfectly captures the magic of stories and imagination. 💛

Dr Rachel Tait shared this brilliant artwork created by her 6-year-old for a World Book Day competition at school 🎨🐾 — a fantastic plate inspired by Pugs of the Frozen North, which they first discovered at the Story Festival!

Alisa has gone to school on World Book Day dressed as one of the polar bears from Pugs of the Frozen North by Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve - what a marvellous costume!

We absolutely love seeing stories spark creativity like this — from the stage, to the page, to a brilliant piece of World Book Day art! 🎭📚🎨

Thank you so much for sharing, Rachel — and good luck in the competition! 🏆🐶

27/02/2026

📚✨ World Book Day Q&A with Kathryn Rossati! ✨📚

Celebrate World Book Day with children’s author Kathryn Rossati in a fun, friendly Q&A — featuring questions from the Isle of Wight Story Festival team! 🎤💫 Expect book chat, inspiration, and plenty of story magic. 🌟

Kathryn Rossati recommends:
🔥 Jayben and the Golden Torch — Thomas Leeds
🌟 Hari Kumar Ultimate Superstar — Rashmi Sirdeshpande
😂 The Dad Trap — Ian Eagleton
🐻 Bear Rescue — Hannah Gold
✨ Her latest books: Naturally Nic/k & Little Tales: Poems for Kids

Perfect for young readers, budding writers, and anyone who loves a great story. 📖💖

Join us for a joyful, book-loving celebration as children’s author Kathryn Rossati takes the hot seat for a fun and friendly Q&A — with questions specially p...

26/02/2026

📚✨ WORD FEST RYDE 2026 ✨📚

Join Monkton Arts, in Ryde from 24th February to 7th March 2026 for a fantastic celebration of books, creativity, and community! Enjoy daily author markets, exhibitions, and relaxed 1 o’clock readings in the café — the perfect way to discover new writers and stories 📖☕

There’s something for everyone, including writing workshops, spoken word sessions, book launches, live music, art displays, and even the unique travelling Coat of Hopes installation 💚🎤🎨

Don’t miss the World Book Day celebrations and the grand finale on Saturday 7th March, featuring a costume catwalk, storytelling, and prize giving — fun for all ages! 👗🏆📚

📍 Monkton Arts, 11 East Street, Ryde
🕥 Tue–Sat, 10:30am–4:00pm
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 All welcome!

23/02/2026

🎉✨ DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS — and that’s a WRAP for 2026! ✨🎉

What a cracking final day at the Isle of Wight Story Festival! 📚💛 Saturday was bursting with brilliant stories, big laughs, hands-on creativity, and proper feel-good moments.

We loved:
❄️ LIVE! Pugs of the Frozen North (pure joy)
🧜‍♀️🐙 Sea Monsters and Mermaids with sea-beast making fun with Holly Medland
🌳📖 Tales from the Wishing Tree storytime magic
🎬✍️ National Landscape filmmaking & poetry workshop (so many creative brains at work!) with Kathryn Rossati
🧵🧥 The Coat of Hopes — a beautiful, moving moment to share
🧠🐭 Adventuremice adventures with Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre
🍽️🎨 Hot Food, Nice! with live illustration + draw-along goodness wih
🏝️🌙 The Island at the Edge of Night — mystery vibes on full power with Lucy Strange
🐉🎨 Tales of the Dragon Tree (gorgeous mixed-media exploring)
🚂🎭 Theatre Train at IW Story Festival to round it all off in style!

A massive THANK YOU 🙌 to every single performer, author, workshop leader, and creative who made this festival sparkle — and to our wonderful audiences (families, schools, bookworms and daydreamers!) for bringing the energy, the questions, and the big cheers. 🥰👏

That’s a wrap for 2026! 🎬✨

Take care, keep reading, keep imagining… and we’ll see you next year! 🌈📚

21/02/2026

✨ Day 2 — What a Friday at the Festival! ✨

Friday 20 February was bursting with imagination, laughter and a whole lot of bookish magic 📚💫

🎭 We kicked off the day with Coppice Theatre with How to Catch a Book Witch, before diving into powerful poetry with Kathryn Rossati's Quiet Poems, Loud Poems.

🪆 Families loved the charm of Nanny Perry’s Puppets, while myth-hunters explored magical worlds in Our Folktastic Island Mythical Maps.

🔮 Jules Marriner’s wonderfully curious Museum of Curious Enchantments cast a spell on audiences, followed by crafty fun at the Sundown Clown Badge Making session 🤡

🚀 After lunch, excitement rocketed with Steve Cole’s Astrosaurs: Mission to Infinity! — a real crowd-pleaser!

🌑 Story lovers journeyed through Shadow Lands with Sue Bailey and celebrated creativity with The Island’s BIGGEST Poem.

✏️ Budding writers and doodlers had a blast at It’s Fun to Think Up Stories and How to Train Your Pencil.

A huge THANK YOU to all our brilliant authors, performers and workshop leaders for bringing stories to life — and to every single one of you who came along, listened, laughed, created and shared the joy ❤️

You made Day 2 truly unforgettable. Bring on the rest of the festival! 🎉📖