HASTINGS STORYTELLING FESTIVAL 2026

Hastings Storytelling Festival is back for nine days and they’re bringing stories out of books and onto stages across Hastings and St Leonards.

The vibe this year is all about “connections”, and they have a massive lineup of spoken word, puppetry, theatre, music, and author events.

The best part is, if you have any kids under 10 in your life, all their festival tickets are completely free.

Weekend Kickoff (17th – 18th Oct):

• Piers Torday (Saturday, 11:00 am): The amazing children’s author is at Hastings Library sharing his new story, Books According to Dog and Owl. It’s totally free, and you don’t even need to book ahead.
• The Norman Quest (Sunday): This is a super fun interactive smartphone quest. It’s running at Downs Farm Community Centre at 11:30 am and then shifts over to the Robsack Centre at 2:30 pm. Also free!

Weeknight Highlights (19th – 23rd Oct):

• Dorothy Koomson (Monday, 7:00 pm): If you love a good thriller, the bestselling author is doing a talk about her book The Quiet
• Girls at the White Rock Studio. Tickets are £12.
• Kate Corkery (Tuesday, 7:00 pm): Irish folklore storytelling at the Horse & Groom. Tickets are £7.
• Zena Edwards (Wednesday, 7:00 pm): A really powerful evening of poetry and spoken word performance at the Hastings Museum & Art Gallery.
• Thomas Taylor (Thursday, 4:30 pm): The festival’s patron is doing a free event at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School talking about his famous Eerie-on-Sea series.
• Deaf Rave & Sarah Jane Morris (Thursday, 7:00 pm): This sounds incredible – it’s a live music set at White Rock Studio using haptic vests that turn the music into physical vibrations so you can actually feel the tracks. Tickets are £12.
• Bev Lee Harling (Friday & Saturday, 7:30 pm): A gorgeous mix of storytelling and live music called Things I Know and Things I Don’t at The Stables Theatre. Tickets are £15.

The Big Grand Finale Weekend (24th – 25th Oct):

• Axel Scheffler (Saturday, 2:00 pm): This is the big one! The legendary illustrator of The Gruffalo is doing a live reading (including a new book, Gruffalo Granny), live drawing, and a signing at the White Rock Theatre. Tickets are £6 – £15, and it’s definitely going to sell out fast.
• Free Children’s Day & Carnival (Sunday): The perfect way to wrap up the week. The Stade open space is getting taken over by puppets, live music, and workshops, plus a massive Gruffalo-themed carnival parade with local drummers. Completely free!

Quentin Blake is the festival’s founding patron. And it promises to be a diverse, progressive, immersive and inclusive storytelling event for all ages. More information can be found here.