Dukes Festival of Stories
About this Event
Come and meet the people behind your most-loved books and discover some new favourites. Featuring a bug show, puppets, comic club, book signings, story readings, and draw-alongs, we’ve got something for everyone.
The highlight of the day are our sessions delivered by some of the UK's most beloved children's authors and illustrators. Events and activities are tailored for children aged 2-12 years old.
A ticket is required to enter the festival, by way of booking into at least one of our sessions. Session tickets are per person for children and adults with the exception of the Comic Club workshops which are per child (accompanying adults are free).
Once inside you can make a day of it with lots of free fun things to do including storytime, character meet and greets with Zog, Winnie-the-Pooh, the Tiger Who Came to Tea, facepainting, crafts, bubbles and boardgames.
Tickets are £8 per person, per workshop and can be booked here, through eventbrite. Early bird tickets are £6.50 for a limited time only, until 6th November. Please consult the timetable and book onto as many as you'd like.
The line-up includes:
Benji Davies
Emma Farrarons
Gyles Brandreth
Katie Rolfe
Katie & Kevin Tsang
Long Nose Puppets
Mark Pembrey
Ojali Rauf
Rachel Bright
Simon Mole
Som Holliday
Struan Murray
Susannah Lloyd
Agenda
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
The Great Big Bug Show
Host: Simon Mole & Gecko
Info: Minibeasts. Massive beats. And some seriously weird bugs… Which beetle has a blaster on its bottom? Which minibeast is barely the size of a full stop? And which eight-legged hunter has fangs as big as a cheetah’s claws? Join poet Simon Mole and musician Gecko for a joyful mix of poems, raps, songs and seriously strange bug facts, inspired by Simon’s A First Book of Bugs. Sing, dance, rhyme and wriggle your way into the secret world beneath our feet, meeting some of its most beautiful, disgusting and downright weird inhabitants along the way.
Expect big laughs, live music and plenty of audience participation. Every tune is an earworm – even the one about woodlice!
Age 4+
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
The Game I Will Never Forget
Host: Onjali Q Rauf
Info: ‘If you want to be a champion, you must think differently from the crowd.’ - Judit Plogar, Chess Grandmaster
Join bestselling and award-winning author Onjali Rauf and discover her latest incredible book that celebrates the special relationship between a grandmother and grandchild, the enduring memories we share and all the fun of chess.
Onjali is the founder of two charities and received an MBE for her incredible work. She won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’. This is a talk not to be missed.
Age 9+
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Quickdraw Comics Club: Here Be Dragons! (9-12 years)
Host: Mark Pembrey
Info: Dragons at the ready. It’s time to create your own comic adventure!
Join illustrator and comics expert Mark Pembrey from Quickdraw Comics Club and learn how to turn a few simple lines into fearsome dragons, fantastic characters and stories of your very own.
Draw along with Mark as he shares his tricks for creating brilliant comic characters, then put your new skills to work designing a dragon and sending it soaring into its own comic-strip adventure.
No drawing experience needed. Just bring your imagination and get ready to create!
9-12 years. 1 ticket per participant. Parents are able to observe only with no ticket required, or for this older category, children are able to be left without parent supervision. In doing so, we ask that parents stay on site and leave a telephone number.
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Wands Away
Host: Emma Farrarons
Info: Have you ever wanted to go to magic school? Meet Ramona Spellstar, witch in training, as she discovers her powers for the very first time in this exciting series for young readers. Come along and learn all about Ramona and her adventures, and then join her award-winning creator, Emma Farrarons, for some draw-along magic.
Age 5+
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Adventure to Neverland
Host: Katie and Kevin Tsang
Info: Join bestselling authors Katie and Kevin Tsang for an exciting and interactive author event introducing their new book, THE NEVERLAND THIEVES, written in partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Katie and Kevin will explain the link between Great Ormond Street Hospital and the original Peter Pan, and then invite young readers to let their imaginations take flight and design their very own Neverland Island! Will your Neverland have pirates, mermaids, fairies, and Lost Boys and Girls, or something new entirely? What will you add to make your Neverland unique to you? And if you were to land on Neverland -- where would YOUR adventure begin? Age 9+
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Quickdraw Comic Club: Drawing Fun (6-8 yrs)
Host: Mark Pembrey
Info: Have you ever wanted to make your own comic book character? Join illustrator and comics expert Mark Pembrey for some fun drawing and picture making experiments. Get some top drawing tips and tricks and maybe teach a few of your own!
6-8 years. Adults must stay with their children for this workshop. Tickets are only required per child. Accompanying adults are free.
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Puppet Show: Penguin
Host: Long Nose Puppets
Info: Say hello to Penguin… although don’t expect Penguin to say hello back!
Ben is delighted when he opens his present and discovers a penguin inside. But no matter what he tries, tickling, funny faces, silly songs and even sending Penguin into OUTER SPACE, Penguin refuses to say a word. What will it take to get Penguin to speak?
Based on Polly Dunbar’s award-winning picture book, Long Nose Puppets bring Penguin to life with beautiful puppetry, lively songs by Tom Gray of Gomez and plenty of wonderfully surreal surprises.
And when the curtain comes down, stay behind for a special chance to meet the puppets!
Age 2+
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Draw with Benji!
Host: Benji Davies
Info: How does a tiny idea become a picture book adventure? Pencils at the ready…
Step inside the magical illustrated worlds of award-winning author and illustrator Benji Davies, creator of The Storm Whale, Grandad’s Island, Tad and many more much-loved stories.
Discover where Benji finds his ideas, how his characters and stories come to life on the page, and hear some of the tales behind his books. Then pick up your pencil and join Benji for a fun draw-along as he shows you, step by step, how to create one of his characters for yourself.
Come for the stories, draw along with Benji and leave with a character of your very own.
Age 3+
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Puppet Show: Penguin
Host: Long Nose Puppets
Info: Say hello to Penguin… although don’t expect Penguin to say hello back!
Ben is delighted when he opens his present and discovers a penguin inside. But no matter what he tries, tickling, funny faces, silly songs and even sending Penguin into OUTER SPACE, Penguin refuses to say a word. What will it take to get Penguin to speak?
Based on Polly Dunbar’s award-winning picture book, Long Nose Puppets bring Penguin to life with beautiful puppetry, lively songs by Tom Gray of Gomez and plenty of wonderfully surreal surprises.
And when the curtain comes down, stay behind for a special chance to meet the puppets!
Age 2+
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Let Your Words Wiggle!
Host: Kate Rolfe
Info: What if the words on the page just wouldn’t stay still?
Meet Kate Rolfe, winner of the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Illustration, and step inside the wonderfully imaginative world of Wiggling Words, where letters jump, tumble and twist into something completely unexpected. Hear how Kate turns words, pictures and her own experiences into stories, meet characters from Wolf and Bear and Owl and Moon, and get creative with some drawing of your own.
A playful celebration of words, pictures and all the wonderfully different ways our imaginations work.
Age 3+
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Enter the World of Dragonborn
Host: Struan Murray
Info: What if you discovered you weren’t quite human after all? Step into a world of hidden dragons, extraordinary powers and fire-breathing danger with Struan Murray, award-winning author of Orphans of the Tide and the New York Times bestselling DRAGONBORN series. Find out where Struan gets the ideas for his magical worlds and how you can create your own. If you love Skandar and Impossible Creatures, you don’t want to miss this. Age 9+
🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Roar, Draw and Imagine!
Host: Rachel Bright
Info: Stories, characters and pencils at the ready… Rachel Bright is back!
Festival of Stories favourite Rachel Bright brings with her the much-loved characters and stories behind The Lion Inside, The Koala Who Could, The Squirrels Who Squabbled and many more. Hear how Rachel draws her unforgettable characters, join in with one of her hugely popular live draw-alongs, and meet Morris, the star of her brand-new book The Most Magnificent Moose.
Come ready to listen, laugh, draw-along and discover a little of the magic behind some of today’s best-loved picture books. Age 3+
🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Badgering for Beginners
Host: Susannah Lloyd
Info: ATTENTION! This information is TOP SECRET and for badger eyes only…
Report for duty with Susannah Lloyd, author of the brilliantly bonkers Badgers Are Go! series, for your very first lesson in BADGERING FOR BEGINNERS.
Take the solemn oath and gain access to highly classified badger intelligence. Learn the six tell-tale signs that your grown-up might secretly be a Badger Operated Person. Put them through state-of-the-art scanning equipment. And discover whether YOU belong to Team Badger or Team Mole…
There will be quizzes, secret intelligence, suspicious grown-ups and plenty of badgery nonsense. So sit up straight, snouts in the air and prepare to be shocked to the very tips of your whiskers.
Age 7+
🕑: 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Gyles Brandreth: Winnie-the-Pooh at 100
Host: Gyles Brandreth
Info: A bear of very little brain, a boy called Christopher Robin, and a story that has enchanted the world for 100 years.
Join writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth for a very special journey into the Hundred Acre Wood, celebrating the centenary of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh.
Drawing on his new book Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear – and his own memories of knowing the real Christopher Robin – Gyles brings to life the remarkable story behind Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and their friends, and reveals how a father telling stories to his young son created some of the best-loved characters in children’s literature.
A joyful celebration of stories, childhood and the world’s most famous bear – for anyone who has ever loved Winnie-the-Pooh. Age 9-99
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 8.00
