After the success of its debut event, the Swanage Literary Festival in Dorset, is returning with more authors and more events, now spread over two days and across two venues.
The festival, happening on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th November 2025 at The Mowlem’s Studio and Swanage Library, will feature an expanded programme of authors, poetry, and activities for all ages.
Salliann Coleman is looking forward to a bigger and better festival in 2025
Already planning 2026 event
Some of Dorset’s top writers will be discussing and reading from their books including Joanna Quinn, whose Sunday Times best selling novel The Whalebone Theatre is currently being adapted for television.
There will also be events for children at Swanage Library over the weekend as well as the return of a popular bookmark competition for schools – and organisers are already planning the 2026 event.
Festival organiser Salliann Coleman has attended several similar events across Dorset, Somerset and Devon this year collecting contacts, ideas and authors to make Swanage’s Literary Festival shine.
And among the stars she has met was actor and author Larry Lamb – better known as EastEnders villain Archie Mitchell – who has spent many happy holidays in Swanage and is keen to take part in a future literary festival here.
Author and actor Larry Lamb (right) as Archie Mitchell in EastEnders, who has asked to attend Swanage Literary Festival in 2026
“We have many more authors”
Salliann Coleman said:
“I recently went to Yeovil Literary Festival and got talking to Larry Lamb, who was appearing there with Michael Morpurgo.
“He told me how he used to come to Swanage for his holidays and when I told him we were organising an event here he said we could sign him up for next year – and I think he will attend.
“The authors who attend these events are lovely, fascinating people who don’t request payment, but want the accolade of being here, having the chance to talk to their readers and sell and sign their books.
“Last year’s festival went better than we expected. We had three wonderful authors and we learned a lot about running the events when we took feedback from those who attended, so this year there will be improvements.
“People asked us whether we could have the festival over two days and we were delighted to make that a reality – we have many more authors, a wider selection of topics and we are open longer to give more people the chance to see us.”
Linda Webber will be leading Rhyme Time at Swanage Library on Friday 6th November 2025
Rhyme time and monster making
Salliann added:
“We have set up an official committee now, as talking about the literary festival started to dominate our WI Page Turners book club meetings where the original idea was born.
“While our members are supportive of the whole idea, some of them joined a reading group to discuss books rather than plan a festival, so there has been a natural progression – though we do wonder sometimes whether we have created a monster!
“It has grown so much from the debut festival, so we have an evening which is predominantly poetry at The Mowlem on Friday 7th November, then we have a full day of seven authors on Saturday 8th November with a good mixture of fiction and non fiction.
“And at Swanage library, we have two Purbeck authors holding events for children – Linda Webber taking rhyme time for the youngsters on Friday and Nick Jubber, who is taking a monster making workshop on Saturday while telling children about some classic monsters from mythology.”
Purbeck author and traveller Nick Jubber reads Tales of Monsters Around the World at The Studio on Friday 7th November 2025
Alex Stone and Steve Couch, interviewing at a previous literary festival
Events at The Mowlem Studio
Friday 7th November 2025
- 6.30 pm: Words to Inspire, Poetry Workshop with students from The Swanage School
- 7.30 pm Nick Jubber, Tales of Monsters Around the World
- 8.30 pm Poetry in the Head with William Boyde
- 9.15 pm The Swanage Poetry Group hosted by Martin Hobdell
Saturday 8th November 2025
- 10 am Alice May, The Resistance Girls, an historical thriller inspired by the true story of the women billeted in Swanage during World War Two to work on the top secret radar project at Worth Matravers.
- 11.15 am Andrew Norman, A Purbeck Romance, the story of how he met his future wife Rachel in Studland, discovered that she shared his love for the works of Thomas Hardy, then set out to retrace the steps of Hardy’s heroine Ethelberta from the novel he set in Swanage.
- 12.30 pm Emma Simpson, Breaking Waves, an account of how she discovered wild swimming in Swanage after a period of immense pain, and found an unexpected source of hope and strength amongst the inspirational women she met there.
- 2.15 pm Felice Hardy, The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis, the story of her family who were Jews in Vienna during Hitler’s rise to power. Her grandmother was tennis champion of Austria, allowing her to flee to London where she beat Tim Henman’s grandmother at Wimbledon.
- 3.30 pm Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre, a novel set in Dorset about three children who grow up in an old English manor house by the sea, and the adventures they create for themselves while the grown-ups entertain endless party guests.
- 4.45 pm Steve Couch, Dead Man Singing, the story of a fading rock star whose agent convinces him to fake his death to get more sales – a ploy which works so well that he then decides to set himself up as his own tribute act.
- 6 pm Alex Stone, The Perfect Daughter, a psychological thriller set around locations on the Dorset coast including Anvil Point, following Jess Harper who has spent her life trying to be the perfect daughter – until her boyfriend disappears and makes her prime suspect in a police investigation.
Cathy Evans is a member of the Swanage WI Page Turners Book Club and a founder member of the Literary Festival committee
“Imagination has been outstanding”
Salliann Coleman said:
“We have set ourselves up as a community interest company and have had grants from the Swanage and Purbeck Rotary Club and Swanage Town Council, the WI has given money for prizes and Purbeck Sounds Radio has been very supportive promoting the festival.
“Thirteen students of Swanage School have written their own poetry and will perform it at the festival to open the festival, and primary schools have taken part in a competition to design a bookmark based on their favourite books.
“The imagination shown has been outstanding, some of their pictures are amazing from books like Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpugo, Harry Potter, The Railway Children, Tales from Acorn Woods by Julia Donaldson, even books on Minecraft books and non fiction books about British birds.
“There was quite a variety, but it doesn’t really matter what children are reading, as long as they are reading – that’s the main thing and we hope this festival will encourage people of all ages to pick up a new book.”
Catherine Woods, a member of the Swanage WI Page Turners Book Club and a founder member of the Literary Festival committee
Swanage Bookshop is giving a book token to all schools that have taken part in the festival’s bookmark competition
Further information
- More about the Literary Festival is on its Facebook page
- Festival tickets can be booked through The Mowlem
