Bournemouth Writing Festival UK: Why I’m Genuinely Excited About This One

I go to quite a few author events, so I don’t say this lightly.

I am really excited about Bournemouth Writing Festival.

I’m attending, speaking and sponsoring it this year, and the more I look at what they’ve put together, the more I think this could become one of my favourite events in the author calendar. It runs from 24 to 26 April 2026, and from everything I’ve seen, it feels like much more than a standard writing conference.

It feels like a festival, not just a conference

That is probably the biggest thing for me.

This is not one hotel ballroom, a few talks, and everyone awkwardly hovering near the biscuits.

The festival basically takes over Bournemouth, with events happening across different locations around the town. There are over 100 events, some free and some ticketed, and the whole thing sounds like it has a proper buzz about it.

There are masterclasses, talks, networking, mealtime meetups, genre breakfasts, and apparently you can even join a session to write on the beach, which is objectively a lot more glamorous than staring at your laptop while wondering where your motivation went.

And let’s be honest, being by the sea does not hurt.

This could be a big one

Some of you may not have heard much about Bournemouth Writing Festival yet, but it sounds like there could be around 2,000 people at the event, which is no small thing. That means plenty of opportunities to meet other authors, hear from speakers you may not have come across before, and generally get yourself into the mix a bit more.

That matters.

Because so many authors ask me some version of the same question:

How do I get out there more?

Sometimes the answer is online visibility. Sometimes it is your website. Sometimes it is discoverability. But sometimes the answer is also a lot simpler than that.

Get in the room.

I’ll be speaking on getting found by readers

That question, ‘How do I get out there more?’, is exactly why I’m doing my session at Bournemouth Writing Festival.

I’ll be talking about getting found by readers, which, as you probably know, is a subject I bang on about quite a lot. Because it matters. Readers cannot buy what they cannot find. And a lot of authors are making life harder for themselves than it needs to be.

So if you are coming along and that is something you are wrestling with, my session should be right up your street.

It feels built with writers in mind

Another thing I really like is that this does not feel slapped together.

In the newsletter, I mentioned the organiser, Dominic Wong, because you can genuinely tell he cares about both writers and the wider community. That does make a difference. You can usually feel when an event has been built with real thought, and this one sounds like it has.

There also seem to be loads of free events for the local community alongside the wider programme, which I think is brilliant.

It all adds up to something that feels welcoming, varied and genuinely worth showing up for.

A couple of extra reasons to take a look

First, my good friend Isabelle Knight from Build Your Author Brand is also doing a session called Reach Success with your Powerful Author Brand, so there is plenty going on beyond my talk too.

Second, if you do want to book onto my talk, you can use the code TOOLKIT15 at checkout for 15% off. And on Friday evening, if you buy three sessions, you get one free, which is a pretty decent little bonus.

Final thought

Honestly, this one just sounds fun.

Useful, yes. Valuable, yes. Great for networking, yes.

But also fun.

And I think that matters more than people realise.

So if you are anywhere near Bournemouth, or you fancy giving yourself a proper author-event experience with a bit more life to it than the usual setup, I would absolutely recommend having a look.

It has more of a festival vibe than a conference.

And it is by the sea.

What more could you ask for?

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