Connect With Communities

Sharing experiences and feeling connected is at the heart of the Book Festival. It’s also what we achieve all year through our Communities Programme.

The impact of this year-round work is tangible. It fosters community cohesion, tackles isolation and loneliness and builds confidence and self-esteem by developing our participants’ creative skills.

• 10,000 people reached since 2019 with the help of authors, creatives and our partners.
• 100% felt our work has brought people from different backgrounds together.
• 93% now feel more confident about attending cultural events.
• 86% of participants feel more connected to their communities.

Funding for some of our community projects has come to an end but we don’t want to stop delivering this fantastic work.

We can only reach these communities because participants can access all sessions free of charge.

So, we need your help to continue running our year-round work in local Communities.

Find out about a small selection of our inspirational projects and see how your support can help us continue these initiatives in 2024 and beyond. (Follow the links to our Communities blog.)

In 2024, your support will help us:

Reach people of all ages who face barriers to participating in cultural activity: social and economic disadvantages, disability, health or age-related challenges.

Go into diverse settings: from schools to hospitals, prisons, care settings, community centres, social clubs and libraries.

Work in partnership with local experts in education, homelessness, healthcare or offender rehabilitation who can tailor projects closely to the needs of those taking part.

Deliver activities such as creative writing, author visits, story-based art projects, zine-making, poetry writing and shared reading.

Give the opportunity to showcase the participants’ creativity at Book Festival events in August and at other points in the year.