Council hails Bookfest’s impact across the city
Councillors at Portsmouth City Council have praised the success of this year’s BookFest and shared their excitement for next year’s festival.
The 15th Portsmouth BookFest took place from 18 February to 9 March 2025. Events were held across the city - from Paulsgrove to Southsea - with most taking place in person and a few online.
The festival aimed to make reading and writing fun and accessible for everyone in Portsmouth, especially those who might not usually attend book events.
This year’s Children’s Week was very popular. Events like The Tiger Who Came to Tea parties drew over 200 people to libraries around the city. Puppet shows at Carnegie and North End Libraries were also a big hit.
For the first time, the festival worked with the University of Portsmouth to run a zine-making workshop for families, which was well attended.
The adult programme included talks on many different topics. Talks about history and politics sold the most tickets, including Sir Vernon Bogdanor’s Six Politicians, which was the top-selling event.
Other popular events included a behind-the-scenes look at Who Do You Think You Are? and a talk about myths in historic buildings. Comedian Helen Lederer also drew a large audience.
Local authors were given a chance to share their work through writing workshops and a Local Authors Fair at Southsea Library. These events were well received, and organisers are considering running the fair on a Saturday next time to help more people attend.
A few events were offered online, and the online writing workshops were more popular than online author talks - something organisers will keep in mind for future planning.
The festival paid for itself through ticket sales, with some extra support from the library service. Discounts were offered to Leisure Card holders, with 131 people using the offer. Online ticket sales were handled through We Got Tickets, which also helped promote the event.
About 950 people attended this year’s festival. Most were local, and nearly all were already library members. Councillor Steve Pitt and Mary Vallely were pleased with how well the festival went and were enthusiastic about Bookfest 2026.
Bookfest 2026 is set to take place in February, with tickets available in January. More information can be found on the Portsmouth Libraries and Archive website.