We’re donating 100 books to 3 local schools as part of our Children’s Creative Writing Competition prize!
CONGRATULATIONS
to the students of Seberts Wood Primary, Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary and St Benedict's Catholic School
Who will soon be choosing £800 of books to add to their school libraries!
A Special Event with
Hugh Bonneville
We are delighted to announce this late addition to this year's festival programme. On the morning of Sunday 11th October we will be celebrating the release of beloved Downton Abbey and Paddington star Hugh Bonneville's second novel for children with this special event for adults and children alike.
Hugh will be in conversation with children's author and performer Emma Swan, talking about his new book Rory Sparkes and the Spy Who Loved Tea, the latest adventure of his unlikely young hero, Rory Sparkes. In Rory Sparkes and the Spy Who Loved Tea, Rory discovers a series of secret coded messages hidden inside a neighbour’s recipe book and becomes convinced that the mysterious La Brucette family are involved in a covert conspiracy.
Then things get even stranger. His mum, his teachers and seemingly every adult around him suddenly become obsessed with drinking a new — and frankly disgusting — brand of tea. Could Rory finally have stumbled across a genuine spy plot?
Packed with mystery, mischief and laugh-out-loud moments, Hugh Bonneville’s new book is illustrated by Loretta Schauer and is perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Horrid Henry and stories where children are considerably more switched-on than the grown-ups.
Join Hugh and children's author Emma Swan for a lively in-conversation event full of storytelling, spies, secret codes and suspicious cups of tea, as he talks about creating Rory’s world, brings the story to life and answers questions from the audience.
Doors open at 9.40am.
Event 10am and lasts for 55 minutes including Q&A.
Followed by book signing.
Signed copies of the books will be available to purchase from Harris & Harris Books both in advance and following the event.
Recommended for ages 7–11 and their families. Children go free and their adults just pay £2.50 to accompany them. Tickets for adults attending without a child are £10 Standard / £5 Students/Benefits (UC,PIP,DLA,PC).
This is a fundraising event for Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival Charity No: 1209140. All funds raised will go to our 2027 schools outreach programme.
Following this event with Hugh, Emma Swan will later be presenting an interactive event for her own new mystery novel, The Cruise Ship Kid at Bury St Edmunds Library 1pm.
Other FREE Events
For Children & Young People
This year has been dubbed the National Year of Reading by the National Literacy Trust. Reading expands minds, builds confidence and fuels creativity. Yet with more distractions and less time, reading for pleasure is in decline across many groups, particularly children and young people.
This year our extensive free programme of events for children and young people spans all four days of the festival and includes interactive storytelling for babies and toddlers, graphic novel workshops with Jack Noel (Dad Bot), a myths and legends session for children aged 8+ with Kevin Crossley-Holland, and adventures in fiction with Nat Harrison and Emma Swan. And a very special guest author TBA (Saturday 14th September 2026).
To make this offering accessible our supporters Bury St Edmunds Town Council are helping us to make tickets for under-18s for all events are free of charge, with a nominal £2.50 charge for their accompanying adults (all under 14's must be accompanied).
Events are open to all but we have added age guidance for those events with a specific focus.
There are three storytelling events for babies and pre-schoolers on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th daytimes, with local author Harriet Howes and sensory storytelling inspired by the hugely popular That's Not My... series.
For young readers we have four events designed to engage children of all reading abilities with mind-expanding stories of different genres and the opportunity to meet inspiring authors. We have graphic novels, adventure and mystery stories, as well as a couple of well known names.
Young People 12+ are welcome to attend all of our events across the programme Free Of Charge (those under 14 must be accompanied by an adult) and we have a curated a selection of events specifically with them in mind including A Year of Creative Thinking with Paddington the Musical Writer & Director Jessica Swale, Poetry Open-Mic events where they can share their own work, and a host of fiction events including a Romantasy & New Adult Fiction Panel, award winning author Abi Daré and panel events about Football in fiction and the best of Modern Love stories.
These events are fantastic for curious minds, adventurous book worms and offer an opportunity to engage with authors of note.
