Swanage is a beautiful seaside town situated on the Isle of Purbeck which hosts a wide range of festivals held throughout the year. In 2024 a local reading group, whilst sharing their love of reading, recognised that the introduction of a Literary Festival would enhance Swanage’s cultural environment and offer an event that could be enjoyed by the whole community. And so it began….
In November 2024 this vision became reality, and the Swanage Literary Festival was born, initially for one day. Its aim was twofold: to invite a range of authors to share their work and writing experiences with the wider community, and to actively involve local primary schools.
The success of this Festival led to the decision to expand the event in 2025 to two days, with more authors and the additional focus of a ‘Poetry and Performance’ evening. The schools’ programme was also extended by the involvement of the local Secondary School. It is now scheduled to be an annual event held early in November.
The Mowlem theatre is the main venue for the Festival. As well as its stunning seafront location it creates a welcoming environment, providing space for informal discussions in addition to the main presentations. The Swanage Library hosts events for children and the Swanage Bookshop is actively involved in the Festival. As a Community Interest Company the Festival is proactive in supporting the local community and welcomes engagement with a range of local businesses and organisations including Purbeck Sounds.
Authors & Poets Featured at Our Upcoming Festival
Kristen Perrin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder, and its sequel How to Seal Your Own Fate.
Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and her debut was a Good Morning America Buzzpick, as well as second runner-up on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as part of his March madness bookclub competition in 2024.
She is originally from Seattle, but currently lives in England, where she is working on more books in her series. Book three in the Castle Knoll series, How to Cheat Your Own Death is coming out in 2026, and a yet-to-be-named fourth book will follow in 2027.
David Wickham has worked all over the world as a writer, television journalist, and producer and director on news and documentaries, factual entertainment and drama programmes. Throughout the Falklands War he was in charge of the BBC’s Current Affairs output from Argentina. Whilst in Argentina he discovered the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and later brought them to the attention of the world with three documentaries. He wrote his first novel, Stolen Children, about that story, and the book may now become the basis of a major film. In drama, he has directed numerous shorts and the highly acclaimed full length drama In Traction.
He has won numerous awards, including from the Royal Television Society, Banff Television Festival, Monte Carlo International Film Festival, New York Festival for Film and Television Festival.He has now completed a second novel, Compulsion, and has also completed a book of poetry which is in the hands of a publisher.
Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times, New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Kindle No. 1 bestselling crime writer whose books have sold millions of copies and are published in 51 countries. She is the author of the new Hercule Poirot mystery novels, and she won the UK National Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year prize in 2013, and the Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library Award in 2023 for her body of work. Her murder mystery musical movie, The Mystery of Mr E, is available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. Sophie is also a bestselling, award-winning poet, an honorary fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and the founder and coach at Dream Author Coaching.
British actor, Author and radio presenter, Larry Lamb has enjoyed a career spanning several decades. His work in theatre ranges from Broadway and West End productions to appearances at the RSC, the National Theatre and the principal fringe theatres in London. Cinema and TV work including most recently his acting roles in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" and the multi -award winning "Gavin & Stacey"... have made him a well-known personality throughout the UK.
He published his memoir ' Mummy's Boy' in 2011 and a debut novel 'All wrapped up 'in 2025 . He is currently working on a collection of his poetry to be published in 2027.
After studying history at university, Sally Page moved to London to work in advertising. However, in her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. She soon came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and eventually she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.
In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. The novel sold over half a million copies in the UK and was translated into 30 languages, making Sally a Sunday Times Bestseller. It was also shortlisted for British Book of the Year.
Sally's second novel, The Book of Beginnings, was launched in September 2023 and her third book, The Secrets of Flowers, in August 2024. In both books, friendship and hope are major themes. Sally's three books have sold over a million copies in the UK. In October 2025 Harper Collins released a Christmas Novella, New Beginnings for Christmas - a sequel to The Book of Beginnings, and in the Spring 2026 will be launching her novel, Six Little Words.
Sally lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author, Libby Page.
Andreina Cordani is the author of six books – two young adult thrillers and four festive mysteries, including Murder at the Christmas Emporium, which was shortlisted for the CWA Whodunit Dagger award. She like to write stories full of suspense and desperate, devious characters. She lives on the Dorset coast with her family and her highly excitable dog, Molly.
Her first thriller, The Girl Who… was shortlisted for the Crimefest Best Crime Novel for Young Adults and longlisted for the Branford Boase Award. Her second festive mystery, Murder at the Christmas Emporium, was shortlisted for the CWA Whodunit Dagger Award.
Steve Couch lives in Bournemouth with his family. He has been employed as a youth worker, a writer and editor, a youth football coach, and as a club coach for Man v Fat Football. Career highlights include being paid variously for the following: watching films, playing computer games, going to church, telling lies about the national sport of Denmark, and jumping around in a skip.
Steve’s first novel, Dead Man Singing, was published in September 2023 and his second, Foul and Fair, followed in July 2024. His third, Imogen Imagine, will be published in September 2026.
Steve has worked with Olly Hopper-Pay, who is an experienced multi-instrumentalist Based in Christchurch, Dorset, to perform musically enhanced readings from his novels.
Olly’s music has featured in TV and Radio worldwide and he has been a fixture of the local music scene for decades whether in rock and roll band `Clams’, country covers band `Country Tones` or his own indie folk group the `OHP Band`.
Mark Damon Chutter is the Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society. He is a Head of Performing Arts and an English and Drama specialist. Mark has been teaching for thirty years and was shortlisted for the ‘ Times Educational Supplement ‘ ‘ Teacher of the Year’ and ‘ Most Innovative Teacher of the Year’ awards which placed him as one of the top practitioners in the country. Mark is a member of the Dorchester Civic Society, the Heritage Committee and the Dorchester Literary Festival.
Nicholas Jubber is the author of six books about history, travel, folklore and mythology. His journeys have taken him across Africa, Asia and Europe, on the trail of a medieval physician, Persian poet and sixteenth century explorer, amongst many other adventures, as he investigates the connections that link the past to the present. A winner and multiple nominee of the Stanford/Dolman Travel Book Award, he has spoken at festivals across Britain and internationally and has had plays produced in London and Edinburgh.
He has written six books, including The Fairy Tellers and Monsterland where he goes on a journey to discover more about the monsters we’ve invented, lurking in the dark and the wild places of the earth —giants, dragons, ogres, zombies, ghosts, demons —all with one thing in common: their ability to terrify.
Chris Smith is an award-winning, bestselling author and literacy campaigner. His series The New Famous Five introduces the new crime-fighting team of Maddy, Fran, Tom and Gilbert the Dog. They team up with George from the original Famous Five for a whole new series of adventures, which will appeal to kids and adults who remember the original stories.
Chris is also the co-creator of the Kid Normal series and The Twits Next Door. He’s an ambassador for the Year of Reading and the Libraries for Primaries campaign, which will ensure that all UK primary schools have a library by 2028.
