Submissions now closed
Take part in the 2025 Bournemouth Writing Festival!
The Bournemouth Writing Festival will take place on Friday 25th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th April 2025 and we are looking for writing professionals and practitioners to be involved in a varied, inclusive and quality programme to inspire writers to write.
Going into its third year, the festival celebrates writers regardless of their age, ability or background. From complete beginners to those ready to query to those looking for inspiration for their next manuscript, the talks, walks, workshops, panels, competitions and free activities are all designed to create a thriving writing community.
This is not a literary festival where writers and authors talk about their book and the themes of their book. This is a writing festival to encourage writers to write (whether they are just starting out or more advanced), offering practical and hands-on tips, advice and strategies to get writing and be published.
From best-selling and award-winning authors, BAFTA-winning screenwriters, poets, journalists, editors, publishers, writing coaches and even a contracts lawyer, all gave talks, curated activities and inspiration to help writers on their writing journey.
Examples of some of the more popular free and ticketed events and activities that took place over the past two years included:
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Writing your first full-length book
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7 proven tips to market your book
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Writing thrillers on the South Coast
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The Fundamentals of writing Short Stories
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How to earn a living as a screenwriter
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Creative writing workshop for adults with additional needs
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Writing on the Beach
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1-2-1 with a literary agent and writing professionals
Photos from 2023 can be seen here.
Photos from 2024 can be seen here.
We are now looking for writing professionals to be part of the 2025 festival programme.
We are also looking for volunteers to host our networking meetups - Genre Breakfasts and Mealtime Meetups.
Call for facilitators and speakers
This is a writing festival to encourage writers to write (whether they are just starting out or more advanced), offering practical and hands-on tips, advice and strategies to get writing and be published.
We are looking for Expressions of Interest for ideas and suggestions that you can deliver and have experience facilitating, which falls under our ethos of inspiring writers to write. This may be the techniques in writing, or understanding the process of getting work out into the world. We want to be as inclusive and diverse as possible – not just in our participants, but in the topics discussed too.
The 2025 programme will again be split into three sections:
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Formal programme of talks, panels and masterclasses from writers and authors and those that support writers (editors, publishers, agents etc). One hour long including Q&As. Topics should not necessarily focus on one genre, but try to be relevant to different writing styles.
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New for 2025 are 90 minute workshops. These are to be more in-depth than the talks, giving attendees practical exercises for them to take away with them.
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Informal programme of networking events, performances and free activities to provide stimulus, connections and inspiration. Our aim is to utilise different spaces within Bournemouth Town Centre whilst creating unique experiences.
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Activities for children to inspire young people to write. New for 2025 are free drop-in sessions (as well as the ticketed workshops) for children of all abilities and ages.
We are looking for facilitators to deliver any in the above categories. Events and activities should be as engaging, interactive, inclusive and as participatory as possible (reducing reliance on PowerPoint or paper hand-outs if possible). It can be delivered how you want - theatre-style or out walking on the beach! Please note, however, that we may not be able to have tables for workshops.
Following feedback from the first festivals, we are particularly interested to explore:
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Poetry
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Short Stories
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Memoirs and autobiographies
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Elements of fiction writing (plotting, characterisation, setting)
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Traditional publishing routes
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Self-publishing routes
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Publishers and literary agents
New for 2025. We strive to make the writing festival innovative and vibrant. This year, we really want to encourage collaborations and connections with people you may not have worked with before. This might be partnering with someone with complimentary skills or a company to bring your event to life. For example:
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A talk on a memoir/autobiography together with a genealogist
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How an author and editor work together
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Delivering a workshop on "Make your characters eat something" together with a local chef/cafe to explore the senses.
We are looking for writers from all areas of our diverse community to lead these events.
An Advisory Panel, comprising three writing professionals, is supporting the Festival Director in the curation of the programme. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into with unsuccessful applicants.
Deadline for submissions is 31st October 2024.
What you'll get
We have applied for funding to pay speakers so any payment is subject to receiving funding. If you are successful, we will tell you of the fee if/when we receive funding.
Speakers will also receive:
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Free professional photographs courtesy of Solid Imagery, our official festival photographer, of your event or activity for you to use as you wish, royalty-free.
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Social media publicity to promote your event or activity.
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Inclusion of your book in the Speaker’s Bookshop, if required.
We ask all successful speakers to help spread the word of their event and the festival as a whole.
Submit Here
To pitch your idea or suggestion to be part of the festival, please complete the following form by 31st October 2024.
Please make sure you have researched your submission as we will make our decisions based on what you have written - changes may not be possible once we have planned all events and activities.