Full programme for Newark’s Book Festival
Over 50 best-selling, award-winning artists and renowned authors will make their way to Newark’s line up at a popular festival.
The Newark Book Festival, which will run from Thursday (July 11) until Sunday (July 14) presents more than 50 events across four days suitable to all ages.
The cultural festival showcases more than just books and reading, focusing on sports, arts, heritage, music, word art, street theatre, and a town-wide murder mystery.
Throughout the whole festival, Newark Market Place welcomes the literature village, featuring crafts, bookish organisations, authors and published books of all genres.
The family-friendly event is free of charge.
On the first day of the festival, July 11, at the Parish Church, parents and children are invited to go for a Little Roars Musical Play session.
Suitable until the age of five, the free session will occur between 10am and 10.40am.
From 11am until 12noon, Olivia Macnab and Dr Clare Lawrence will be at the Gannets Bistro inspiring and involving the public in a discussion about their book — Creativity in Autism.
All the dancers waiting for an hour of free toe-tapping music and performance can join the Smoke and Mirrors Swing Dancers at Newark Market Place from 12noon until 1pm.
At the Palace Theatre, author Michael Rosen, will be reading and discussing his non-fiction book — The Missing from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.
Poets from the area, Fiona Theokritoff and Jane Wyles will be hosting Wine and Words at a new Newark Book Festival venue, the Old School Tea Room for an afternoon of poetry, wine and afternoon tea.
It will take place between 4pm and 6pm.
Crime writers Mark Billingham and Abir Mukherjee will be discussing their latest books at Newark Town Hall — The Wrong Hands and Hunted respectively.
From 7pm and 8pm the festival’s first day will end with an interview and book reading of the two renowned authors.
Opening the second day of the festival, on Friday, July 12, from 10am until 3.30pm, Ally Pally brings the Arts Story Emporium to Newark Market Place.
The family-friendly event encourages the public to get creative by playing with their food, from stocking up on stolen tarts to escaping gingerbread men and giant turnips, the fictional food market stall appeals to creativity.
From 10am until 11am, Joseph Coelho will be at the Town Hall Ballroom for a fun and interactive poetry workshop dedicated to schools and home educators.
Author Frances Stickley invites the crowd for a morning packed full of stories and imagination at Beanblock Cafe from 10.30am until 11.15am.
Adding a bit of music to the day, singer songwriters Nina Blaszczyk and Phil Baggaley of Broken Instruments return to the festival’s venue Tudor Hall at the National Civil War Centre.
From 10.30am until 11.30am the duo presents a new project and original songs in Beyond the Blue.
To celebrate the launch of the Newark Creates BookBench Trail, members of the public are invited to grab their pens at the Learning Space, National Civil War Centre for a bookmarking and journaling workshop.
It will take place from 11am until 12.30pm.
Stepping into the afternoon, crime fiction panel Kate Rhodes and Victoria Dowd will discuss their work and inspiration and celebrate their latest publications with an interview with crime awards judge and panellist Alex Hawley.
The event will be at the Tudor Hall, National Civil War Centre from 1pm to 2pm.
For those who love to walk and explore, Jack Cornish will treat the public to a story about his — Lost Paths — experiences at Newark Town Hall from 1pm until 2pm.
ABBA, a band that doesn’t need an introduction is celebrated by Giles Smith with a book reading of My My! Abba Through the Ages.
Newark Town Hall will be hosting the event from 3pm to 4pm.
BBC’s star of The Traitors, Ivan Brett author of The Floor is Lava will introduce Folk Games, which includes games that one might have played as a child or that learned to play by parents or grandparents.
From 4pm until 5pm at the Tudor Hall, National Civil War Centre Ivan will enlighten the public on more than 99 games.
The last event on Friday will be with Sunday Times bestselling author — Tom Cox— at the Newark Town Hall where he will discuss his folklore-influenced first novel Villager, and brand new book 1983 from 7pm to 8pm.
The third day of the festival, Saturday (July 13) starts with a Battle of the Genres at Newark Town Hall.
From 9.30am to 10.30am, an epic battle between crime, Vikings and legends, teen humour and romance will happen between several different authors who will compare and discuss their popular books.
A family-friendly poetry workshop led by Joseph Coelho dedicated to children and parents will be at Inspire, Buttermarket from 9.30 am to 10.30am.
A must for football fans, author Marcus Alton shares from his archive of stories — Brian Clough's The Lost Tapes, a tribute book to the football legend Brian Clight, which includes some exclusive recordings.
He will be introducing his book at Tudor Hall, National Civil War Museum from 10am to 11am.
A free family-friendly event is coming to Beanblock Cafe with illustrator Alice Mckinley.
Suitable for those aged between three and seven, the public is invited to join Alice on a Summer Reading Challenge with her picture book — This Rock Is Mine from 10am to 11am.
From 10.15am to 4pm at Newark Market Place, storytelling sessions will be taking place at the Shed of Stories.
Best-selling author, Joseph Knox will be interviewed by Dr Tim Rideout at Newark Town Hall Ballroom to discuss his latest Brit noir, Imposter Syndrome from 11.15am to 12.15pm.
Interactive storytelling is brought to Byron Room, upstairs at the Newark Palace Theatre by Miriam Halahmy.
From 11.30am to 2pm, the author will guide the inspiring storytelling of Saving Hanno, followed by drama, writing and a discussion workshop.
At Newark Buttermarket a fun, noisy and creative drop-in play sessions in an interactive music room will take place from 12pm until 4pm.
Chats full of spies and thrillers will get the afternoon started with Tammy Cohen and Nicci French at the Newark Town Hall.
The session will be from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.
Stephen McClarence and Clare Jenkins will provide a glimpse into Anglo-Indian life with afternoon tales from Teatime at Peggy’s: A Gilmpse of Anglo-India.
The journalistic duo of 15 years will lead the session at Tudor Hall, National Civil War Centre from 2pm to 3pm.
For the science, umbers, physics and universe lovers, theoretical physicist Antonia Paddila and astrophysicist Emma Chapman will take the public on a cosmic tour.
The event is taking place at Byron Room, upstairs at the Newark Palace Theatre from 2.45pm until 3.45pm.
Ahead of the Paris 24 Olympic Games, John Goodbody, an award-winning sports journalist at The Times and Sunday Times will talk about iconic Olympic moments from over the years at the Newark Town Hall from 3.30pm to 4.30pm.
Two bewitching and bestselling fiction writers — Essie Fox and A.J. West, come together to share their latest historical titles in an Orenda Historical Fiction event.
The authors will introduce their pieces at Tudor Hall from 4pm to 5pm.
Ending the day in a ghostly way, Newark Palace Theatre sets the scene as the classic, spine chilling Count Magnus Ghost Stories are brought to life at the book festival.
The supernatural tales by Montague Rhodes James will be performed by Robert Lloyd Parry at 7.30pm until 9.10pm.
The last day of 2024 Newark’s Book Festival, Sunday (July 14), starts with morning news, where people will spend an hour debating the morning’s news over coffee and cake at Gannets Cafe.
Festival board members, Mary and Richard Haig will host the session from 10am until 11am.
A free family friendly events set to transform the market place into art will take place from 10am until 3pm.
It brings interactive and live pavement art to the streets of Newark.
An event to celebrate the publication of New Uses for a Wand, one of the two new titles joining the Five Leaves New Poets series will be at Newark Buttermarket.
Fiona Theokritoff’s poetry book will be discussed and read from 10am until 11am.
From 10am until 4pm, Newark Castle will be packed with adventure, yoga, storytelling, colouring and arts and crafts workshops and entertainment for all ages.
A five-a-side author and illustrator event with five of Newark Book Festival's Young Ambassadors asking the questions will take place at the Newark Town Hall.
The event chaired by Dr Tim Rideout will be from 10.30am to 11.30am.
Known to the town, author Emma Oldham will be at one of the many BookBenches for a storytelling session at the Shimmer and Shine BookBench near the Riverside Park.
The storytelling session of The Whale Who Disappeared will be from 10.30am until 11am.
At the Literature Village in Market Place, the Walkabout with Daisy will take place from 11am until 12noon.
It includes a morning of hula hoops, skipping ropes, bean bags and a bag full of challenges inviting everyone, big or small to play.
Dancer, singer, actor, writer and producer Nikky Smedley will dress as LaaLaa the teletubby, for a session of — Confessions of a Teletubby — where she will reveal all about her life and the character.
Nikky will be at the Palace Theatre from 11.30am until 12.40pm.
Fans of dogs and a bit of dancing are invited to go watch Nicci and her award winning Strictly Canine Dancing Dogs from 12.15 until 12.45 at Newark Market Place.
Live street performances will also be taking place at the Newark Amrket Place with Beetlejuice,! Wacky Walkaobout with Rhubarb Theatre.
From 1pm until 2.30pm, the chilling characters will be presenting two performances at the Literature Village.
For those curious on how to raise a Viking and live Danishly, they can join Helen Russell on stage to learn everything hse has to teach after a decade of living in Denmark and raising a family there.
The session will take place from 1pm until 2pm at Newark Town Hall.
From 2pm until 3.30pm, Dr James Wright will take the public on a myth-busting journey, while unveiling truths about historical buildings. It will be at Tudor Hall at the National Civil War Centre.
Author Jasper Fforde will share a glimpse of his new book — Red Side Story — at Newark Town Hall from 2.45pm until 3.45pm.
The event to conclude this year’s book festival is a promising laugh-out-loud with Reggie Houser Has the Power.
The book talk and reading will be led by Helen Rutter at the Tudor Hall from 4.30pm until 5.30pm.
Festival director, Sara Bullimore said: “Newark Book Festival is really embedded into the community now, with this one being the 8th edition.
“We have 42 Young Ambassadors, around 60 volunteers and our schools programme is in full swing.
“The festival is special because of the range of events and activities on offer from ticketed to free, it allows us to work with all the fabulous venues and communities to just get together.
“It really does feel like a festival family with our audiences too. We welcome both local and visitors from afar, with many staying over and we are lucky to have a fantastically curated programme this year attracting many headline authors to Newark.”
