Bring the UK’s Most Exciting Book Festival to Your Area
BookTastic festivals are multi-school programmes, creating a connected community of readers and transforming attitudes to books.
We provide everything you need to make it magical.
Complete our simple expression of interest form. We’ll arrange an initial conversation to understand your organisation, discuss how participation works, and answer all your questions.
Together, we’ll design your programme. We’ll discuss author preferences, identify key themes, and create a timeline that works for your academic calendar.
Our central team is there to guide you every step of the way. You will have a key contact for your organisation and for the participating schools, and access to a range of planning and delivery resources, a complete festival toolkit.
Our pupil voting portal gives all participating schools the chance to vote for their preferred line-up.We work with you to create a programme that meets your needs – inclusive, inspiring and most of all, fun.
We provide classroom materials that can be used to supplement existing literacy and reading lessons, building excitement and creating a buzz around reading in every school. Then – Festival Week! A high-profile, high-impact celebration that unites schools.
After your festival, we’ll help you capture stories, measure impact, and celebrate success.
Access to our network of acclaimed children’s authors and illustrators, carefully matched to your pupils’ ages, interests, and reading levels. From beloved picture book creators to award-winning graphic novelists, poets and illustrators.
Planning templates, classroom activity guides, reading challenges, promotional materials, fundraising support, and book order management.
We handle all author bookings and contracts. Authors arrive fully briefed and prepared to deliver outstanding sessions.
We provide how-to guides and access to our central support team so you’re never on your own
Ready-made templates for posters, newsletters, social media, press releases, and website content – including a micro-site through our system that gives you an online presence for your programme.
Simple evaluation tools including pupil surveys, teacher feedback forms, and impact reporting templates that demonstrate reading attitude changes and engagement outcomes.
We have established relationships with all UK publishers, meaning we can negotiate a substantial discount for your book ordering.
Join our network of delivery partners for shared learning, best practice exchange, and access to additional BookTastic events throughout the year.
How big do you want it to be? There are 4 key areas that you will need to fund:
Your Venue – speak to local council and/or college and universities about using their spaces for a free/low cost solution;
Author Fees – authors and illustrators should be paid a minimum fee of £300, in line with the Society of Authors guidelines. If you are running a week of events with 5 authors, your fees should be a minimum of £1,500;
Book Orders – again, this depends on the number of children you want to involve. On average the cost of a book is £8.99 – multiply that by the number of children, but don’t forget that on average we can negotiate a 50% discount with our suppliers. We also find that this is an ideal way to engage local businesses in sponsorship – free books for children is an easy win!
Transport – again, this is dependent on your local area, numbers of schools, children, etc. Working with your local education transport provider is a great option here, and can create a low cost solution
BookTastic Support – as a not-for-profit we are able to supplement our costs through central grant funding. To ensure we are able to provide support when you need it, we charge 5% of your operating budget each year – we find this is a realistic way of identifying how much help you will need from us.
Here is a sample budget:
Venue – £5,000
Author Fees – £3,500
Book Orders for 1,250 children – £11,238
Transport – LEA buses £4,000
Subtotal – £23,738
BookTastic Fee @ 5% – £1,187*
Total – £24,925
*Fee dependent upon festival budget. A fully costed delivery plan must be submitted at the start of the programme to be agreed with BookTastic CIC, to ensure it is realistically costed.
12 months before your desired festival dates. This ensures author availability and adequate preparation time. To ensure you can meet the project delivery deadlines involved, we suggest starting the conversation with us 18 months in advance of your preferred festival date.
Sample Timeline:
January 2026 – Expression of Interest
February to May 2026 – Drawing up agreements and planning documentation
June 2026 – Signed booking for festival June 2027
September/October 2026 – Pupil Programme Voting
December 2026 – Programme Announcement
January to May 2027 – Schools deliver classroom programme; MAT team delivers event management plan
June 2027 – Festival Week
July 2027 – Post-programme evaluation
BookTastic works best with 8+ schools (typically a MAT or partnership), but we can discuss options for smaller groups or individual schools joining regional festivals.
We primarily work with MATs/trusts, but individual schools can join existing regional festivals as satellite participants. Contact us to explore options.
We can deliver festivals for all school ages; we find the optimum year group is Year 3, as this is the point at which a natural inclination towards reading can begin to decline, and allows for longitudinal evaluation throughout their remaining primary years.
We curate authors based on your pupils’ ages, reading levels, and interests, prioritising quality, diversity, and educational value. You can request specific authors or themes (these cannot be guaranteed).
As a not-for-profit our aim is to find a way to inspire all children to discover the joy of reading, regardless of background. If you want to start small with a pilot event, we can work with you to establish data that will attract larger funding further down the line.
Headline: Is BookTastic Right for Your Trust?
Ideal delivery partners have:
Multi-Academy Trust or School Partnership BookTastic works best across multiple schools (typically 10 schools per programme), creating economies of scale and shared excitement across a community of learners.
Commitment to Reading for Pleasure A strategic focus on literacy, reading culture, or closing attainment gaps. BookTastic amplifies existing reading initiatives and creates memorable moments that sustain throughout the year.
Coordinator Capacity Ability to assign festival coordinators in each participating school (typically the literacy lead or librarian) who can dedicate weekly prep time plus festival week.
Inclusive Approach Commitment to ensuring all pupils participate regardless of family income. BookTastic is free to deliver so that no child is excluded.
Celebration of Stories Enthusiasm for creating joyful, creative learning experiences. BookTastic festivals are celebrations—we want partners who’ll embrace the magic and make it unforgettable.
Not a MAT? Individual schools or smaller partnerships can join existing regional BookTastic festivals as satellite participants. Get in touch to explore options.
Headline: Festivals That Transformed Reading Communities
Case Study 1: (Primary Teacher) “BookTastic Week was transformational. Children who never chose to read were suddenly arguing over books. One Year 4 boy, a non-reader, won ‘Pupil of the Week’ for finishing his free book within days of the festival. The buzz lasted months.”
Festival Highlights:
Impact 6 Months Later: “Our library borrowing increased and stayed high. Teachers report richer book talk in classrooms and a change in pupil behaviour around reading. BookTastic created a shift—reading became cool.”
Case Study 2: (Festival Leader) “As a small team in an isolated part of the country we’d never dreamed of hosting major authors. BookTastic made it possible and affordable. Our pupils – many who don’t own books – met actual writers, experienced stories beyond their lived experiences, and understood books are made by real people.”
Festival Highlights:
Impact 6 Months Later: “Three pupils have started writing their own books. Our Year 4 class submitted stories to a national competition—unheard of before BookTastic. Teacher confidence in teaching writing improved because they’d seen storytellers at work.”
Headline: Start Your BookTastic Journey
Introduction text: We’d love to hear about your trust and your vision for a BookTastic festival. This form helps us understand your context and aspirations. There’s no commitment at this stage—just an opportunity to explore whether BookTastic is right for your schools.
We typically respond within 3 working days to arrange an initial conversation.
Form Fields:
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