About the festival

We were so excited that the Reading is Magic Festival is returning from 2nd - 6th October! There were so many writers, illustrators and poets who are taking part in our five-day festival which will be beamed straight into schools and homes across the globe.

Inspiration for the name comes from Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2019-2022 Cressida Cowell’s key message ‘reading is magic, and magic is for everyone’. We are excited that the award-winning children’s author and creator of How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book plays a key role in the festival.

We’ve teamed up with festival partners in different parts of the world, with events coming from across the globe. The partnership of festivals and programmers was made up of Bath Children’s Literature Festival, BookTrust, Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Bocas Lit Fest, Wigtown Book Festival, Flip Through Flounders and Black British Book Festival.

2023’s programme includes Joseph Coelho, Harry Woodgate, David Almond, Benjamin Zephaniah, Cressida Cowell and more.

You can watch all of the events from the 2020, 2021 and 2022 festivals for a small one off fee of £5.

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