Retford Book Festival 6th – 14th June 2026
The first Retford Book Festival was held on 9th – 15th June 2025 and was a great success. It was cobbled together by a group of enthusiastic volunteers, none of whom had any experience of organising a book festival. But each person brought skills and experience to the table and Retford Book Festival was born.
We organised author talks, interviews, a crime writing panel and a writing workshop with a diverse range of authors. Publishers were not really interested in supporting a new festival so we put together the authors on the basis of “who knows someone who knows someone who knows an author”. Most of the authors who did agree to participate probably just felt sorry for us.
We also funded free events at local schools with the poet Paul Cookson and the illustrator Liz Million to reach as many children as possible in the area.
We wanted to bring something positive to the community focusing on the joy of books but providing something for everyone whether avid reader or not.
In the aftermath of the first festival, we acknowledged that we had learnt a lot and then decided to do it all over again in 2026.
Retford Book Festival 2026 will be two days longer than the first festival – more authors and events to pack in. We go forward with confidence and even more enthusiasm than last time. Our commitment remains to a diverse programme with something for everyone.
