Thousands of children discover the magic of stories as Children's Bookfest celebrates most ambitious Chichester festival yet

Children's BookFest, the West Sussex charity dedicated to inspiring a love of reading, has celebrated its most ambitious Chichester festival yet, bringing 29 leading children's authors, poets and illustrators into primary schools across the Chichester District for three days of storytelling, laughter, and creativity.

Taking place from 6 - 8 October, BookFest Chichester 2026 brought 57 lively author encounters to almost 5,000 children, giving pupils the opportunity to meet the people behind the stories, discover new books and experience the excitement of reading in a completely different way.

At the end of each visit came another moment of delight, as every child received their own brand-new book, bought by the charity and personally dedicated to them by the inspiring author they had just met.

Celebrated children's author Andy Stanton marked 20 years of his much-loved Mr Gum books with visits to The March Primary School and Tangmere Primary, treating pupils to his wonderfully irreverent humour and larger-than-life storytelling.

At St Richard's and St Joseph's infant schools, author and poet Mayo Agard-Olubo introduced pupils to his debut picture book, Kid Rex to the Rescue. Meanwhile award-winning children's author Rashmi Sirdeshpande captivated pupils at Chidham and Bosham with stories of Goa and her picture book This Is Who I Am.

Author Mariesa Dulak brought plenty of laughter to Jessie Young Husband School and Parklands with her wonderful picture book The Ice Cream Crocodile, while Chris Redmond, poet and performer with Hot Poets, combined music, humour and fascinating facts during visits to Kingsham and Parklands, sharing his poetry collection Wonder Thunder Blunder.

At Funtington, comedian, Radio 4 performer and children's author Alasdair Beckett-King introduced pupils to the second book in his comedy crime series featuring the world's greatest detective, Montgomery Bonbon.

Steph Barnett, from Funtington School, said:

"One of our children was so inspired by our KS2 talk by Alasdair Beckett-King that she designed her own detective, complete with accessories!"

These moments capture the magic of Children's BookFest. For three days, classrooms became places where stories leapt from the page, imaginations took flight and children discovered new worlds, new characters and perhaps even the beginnings of stories of their own.

Georgina Lippiett, Festival Director of Children's BookFest, said:

"There's something extraordinary about watching a child meet an author and suddenly realise that the stories they love have been created by a real person, with ideas and imagination just like their own.

"This year we've seen children laughing, asking brilliant questions, recognising themselves in the characters they meet and being inspired to create stories of their own. Those are the moments that make BookFest so special.

"But the experience doesn't end when the author leaves. Every child takes home a new book that we've bought for them, personally signed and dedicated by the author they've just met. We hope that book becomes the beginning of many more reading adventures.

"At a time when the National Year of Reading is shining a spotlight on the importance of reading, we're proud to be doing our part here in West Sussex. We're enormously grateful to the authors, schools, volunteers and supporters who help us make it happen."

Children's BookFest is a small, independent charity that raises funds throughout the year to bring authors into schools and purchase thousands of books for children. Its growing programme includes BookFest Chichester, BookFest Bognor and BookFest Midhurst, alongside BookFest YA, which launched in 2026 to bring author encounters and creative opportunities to secondary school students.

The charity also donates new books to five local foodbanks, helping more children experience the pleasure of owning and reading books.

With support from trusts and foundations as well as local businesses, donors, volunteers and community partners, Children's BookFest hopes to continue reaching more schools, inspiring more young readers and putting thousands more books into children's hands.

For more information about Children's BookFest and how to support the charity, visit www.childrensbookfest.com.