Children’s BookFest Bognor 2025
4th and 5th February 2025
BookFest Bognor 2025 was a riot of colour and creativity, with 10 authors presenting 21 sessions between them in 8 primary schools; meaning the BookFest reached over 1800 children in just two days.
Each year we aim to raise enough funds to invite at least one additional school to join the BookFest family, and for 2025 we were delighted to welcome the wonderful St Mary's Catholic Primary School for the first time. Gareth Jones and Sam Copeland entertained over 260 children from Years 1 to 6, bringing puppets, music, bears and animal noises with them to enthuse and inspire all those brilliant brains. The children had a wonderful time, and left school clutching their personally dedicated books with real joy; it was an absolute pleasure to see the impact the BookFest had on them.
Other schools were visited by poets such as AF Harrold of beardy fame, authors such as Carrie Sellon with her suitcase of mysterious potions, and illustrators like Sophy Henn, who brings the sunshine with her every time she walks into a room.
Stephanie Taylor shared her beautiful book about how wide our horizons really are, Joe Todd-Stanton inspired countless children with his adventurous picture book full of intrigue, Zohra Nabi drew magical maps of alchemical mystery and our Patron, Iszi Lawrence, ignited a love of history and ancient Egypt in everyone who had the pleasure to hear her speak. We are truly grateful to all of them for supporting the BookFest and for helping us to spread the book-love.
And as always, our thanks go too to the teachers and volunteers who help make the whole event work so seamlessly, they really are unsung heroes.
