Writing Competition Deadline - 15th August 2025. Submit your entry now!

Submissions now open!
Take part in the 2026 Bournemouth Writing Festival!
The Bournemouth Writing Festival will take place on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th 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 fourth 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.
Photos from 2025 can be seen here
We are now looking for writing professionals to be part of the 2026 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. Think "how to" or Top Tips, for example How to write interesting characters, or Top Tips to avoid procrastination. We want to be as inclusive and diverse as possible – not just in our participants, but in the topics discussed too.
The 2026 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) in the form of:
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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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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 and evening 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. These include free drop-in sessions (as well as the ticketed workshops) for children of all abilities and ages which will take place on Saturday 25th April
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.
Here are some of the specific things we are looking for, in addition to the above:
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Book Marketing. On Friday 24th April, the four sessions we are looking to hold in the Pavilion Dance theatre (capacity 200) is focused on helping authors and writers get their words out into the world.
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Poetry Hub. Our Poetry Hub will be in a public space in the town centre on both Saturday and Sunday. The Winchester Poetry Festival will be curating and organising this section of the festival.
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Writing Hive. On Sunday 26th April, authors and writing services can hire a space in our Writing Hive (previously called the Author Marketplace). This is a buzzing place full of writers and authors who have already published or self-published their books and attendees can come and speak to them about their writing journey. By hiring a table, you are guaranteed a place on a panel chaired by a writing professional. Author Events will be curating and managing this section of the festival.
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 Friday 31st October 2025.
Please note that last year, we received three times as many submissions than slots so please don't be too disappointing if we don't choose you this time!
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. For the past two years, we've paid speakers £150-£200 including expenses and taxes.
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 2025.
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. Please write the following as if it would be placed on a website to entice people to come.