BookFest is a festival for children who love stories!

Director Sarah Mullen launched Bournville BookFest in 2014 on a shoestring budget and no experience of running a literature festival. She won a £2000 Vision award from Bournville Village Trust to run a really high-quality children's book festival, which was also unstuffy and accessible.

Six years later, it's one of the biggest children's book festivals in the UK and Birmingham's only dedicated book festival for 0-12s.

Families across the city have been asking for their own BookFests so for 2019 as well as Bournville BookFest (14th-24th March) we're organising:

Sutton Coldfield BookFest (Saturday 2nd March)

Solihull BookFest (Saturday 9th March)

Barnt Green BookFest (Saturday 16th March)

How is Busy Parents Network funded?

Busy Parents Network is a not-for-profit social enterprise based at Bournville Community Hub, which we also run for the community.

We keep our prices low and use venues across the city, so they're easy to get to. We have a fantastic schools programme - Literature Out of the Box - so we can reach more children than ever before. And we're 100% committed to running BookFest on not-for-profit lines, and to paying all authors, artists and performers properly.

We couldn't do all this without funding from Arts Council England and private sponsorship - or the generosity of our Venue Partners, who largely let us use their venues free of charge.

Look out for our pop-up BookFest BookShops - and remember every book bought helps pay to bring authors to Birmingham.

And you can swap old books for new at BookFest BookSwap stalls:

Saturday 9th March - Solihull BookFest, Core Theatre foyer.

Saturday 16th March - Rowheath Pavilion

Saturday 23rd March - Bournville BookFest, The Blue Coat School.

Finally, if you are bringing along older children, then babes-in-arms are free. If they are coming to one of our pre-schoolers events, then we hope you understand they will need a ticket.

We hope you have a wonderful time at BookFest - you're guaranteed a warm welcome!

Competition Terms and Conditions

The below terms and conditions apply to all competitions run by Busy Parents Network unless specified otherwise:

  • Entry into any Busy Parents Network-promoted competition will be deemed as acceptance of the below terms and conditions
  • By entering the competition, entrants automatically give consent for their entries and any content thereof, including their name and other personal data, to be used in any and all Busy Parents Network publicity materials without notice or limitation
  • Employees of Busy Parents Network, their family members or anyone else connected in any way with the competition shall not be permitted to enter competitions.
  • There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter Busy Parents Network competitions.
  • No entries to the competition will be permitted after the specified closing date. Busy Parents Network reserves the right to reject competition entries on these grounds. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for any reason, even if beyond the entrant's control.
  • Prizes are non-transferable and no cash alternative is offered. Prizes are subject to availability and Busy Parents Network reserves the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without notice.
  • The promoter’s decision in respect of the winner all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  • The winner will be notified within 10 working days of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not claim the prize within 10 working days of notification, Busy Parents Network reserves the right to withdraw the prize and pick a replacement winner.
  • The Busy Parents Network reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice.