Following on from last year’s two sell out events at the Margate Bookie festival, our tour of funny local Margate history (with a literary twist) is back for 2025. The Mysterious Historian will lead an early evening tour from the Turner Contemporary and finishing at The Shakespeare pub.

The School of Life is a global organisation helping people lead more fulfilled lives. It is a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours.  

Where do bums come from? Why are they important? Do all animals have a bum? Why are bums so funny? Join Margate's own Crab Museum as they attempt to answer most of these questions in their new book A Natural History of Bums.

Write your own funny poems with AF Harrold, author of The Pocket Book of Pocket Poems. Known for his quirky, funny and surreal poetry, he inspires audiences to play with language, find their voice and never be afraid of the absurd.

Join authors Xiaolu Guo and Jacqueline Crooks for a lyrical and thought-provoking conversation on migration, creativity, and coastal life. Both writers live and work by the sea and bring to this event their powerful perspectives as migrant women whose stories are shaped by the landscapes of the British coast.  

Join illustrator Garry Parsons for a dinosaur draw-a-long. Learn how to draw the start of the Dinosaur That Pooped series, written by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter.  

Adam Weymouth shares the behind-the-scenes story of his latest book Lone Wolf. The record of a 1000 mile walk across the Alps in the footsteps of a wolf, Adam throws unique light on Europe's mountainous hinterlands at a moment of political and environmental change. 

14 Magazine is an annual poetry magazine devoted to poems of fourteen lines only and is published by Vanguard Editions. Join us for the launch of this year’s edition.

Get ready for a hilarious and creative comic book event as audiences join time-travelling penguins Pablo and Splash on their adventures; an unexpected visit to the age of the dinosaurs, a race back to the frozen ice age, and, in their next adventure, a trip to Ancient Rome!

Come and enjoy your favourite nursery rhymes and songs with storytellers bringing them to life. There is something for everyone with classic nursery rhymes - Humpty Dumpty and Old King Cole and some not so familiar, plus draw-along with illustrator and designer Ben Coppin who has re-imagined the wonderful illustrations of Claud Lovatt-Fraser in the new edition of Nursery Rhymes with Pictures.  

Jay Rayner tells stories from his 25 years from his career as a restaurant critic in conversation with Sophie Haydock.  

Bringing the show into the real world for the first time, they will be recording live episodes with a diverse collection of guests. Will they make friends with all of them? That remains to be seen. But you will definitely hear some interesting chat.  

Join author and illustrator team Lucy Strange and Pam Smy as they share the secrets behind their ghostly new series Lockett & Wilde’s Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries. Get ready for some sneaky peeks into Lucy and Pam’s creative journeys and their sources of inspiration.

Margate-based poets Raymond Antrobus and Victoria Adukwei Bulley talk through their careers in conversation with author Jacqueline Crooks, and share excerpts of their work.  

David Whitehouse speaks to Lisa Owens about his latest book, Saltwater Mansions. They will discuss the impact of grief and the dangerous allure of taking true crime stories into our own hands. His second work of creative non-fiction, the book blends reportage and memoir to explore the extraordinary hidden lives of ordinary people. 

Join author and illustrator Rachel Tilda Wolf for an interactive story time reading her debut picture book Wolf and the City. This is followed by a fun crafting workshop where you’ll create your own Wolf and Pigeon to take home with you. 

Join author of The Book of Mysteries, Magic and the Unexplained, Tamara Macfarlane, and Hayley of My Real Fairy Kits to explore mysteries, magic, and the art of potion creation.

Three crime fictions writers discuss their different approaches to the genre in conversation with Academy FM  presenter Paul Rutters. GD Wright, LV Matthews and Naomi Williams will tell you about inspiration, writing complex characters, and keeping readers on the edge of their seats.  

The Kent Poetry Championships return to Margate Bookie! The Bookie Slam is back for its eighth incredible instalment. Get those fingers snapping for 11 poets from across the South East as they compete for cash prizes and a future shot at the Kent Poetry Championship Belt.

In this session, you’ll think about the questions raised by Kathryn Clark’s debut novel Things I Learned While I Was Dead. We’ll consider the ethics of medical science, humans playing god, the consequences of our choices, and the place of consent in healthcare. This event is not open to the public.

Broadstairs-based Felicity Epps published her debut novel for young adults, A Grave Inheritance, in July this year - the first in a supernatural murder mystery series called the Society of Free Spirits published by Hachette. This event is not open to the public.

Free drop-in session for under 5s. Thanet-based children's author Em Cosh will read their book Kip and the Squiggledoodle to the children and lead an activity.

Zita Whalley and Andy Malt, editors of Thanet-focussed culture newsletter Strange Tourist look at how stories are formed and the many roads into creating narratives. Building Stories explores storytelling approaches across several practices, from theatre to music.

Bee’s Bookshare is a friendly community of book lovers, coming together to swap books they’ve read and pick up something new. Any type of book and any type of reader is welcome. There are no set books to read, just bring something you’ve loved or loathed to pass on and share the reading buzz. 

Put your literary knowledge to the test for the chance for your team to become the first ever Margate Bookie quiz champions. There will be prizes. It will be fun. And someone will take that crown (there will be no actual crown). Maximum six people per team. 

Chris Plato guides you through puns, adages and idioms, and their use and abuse in the written and visual worlds. He lifts the veil to reveal how writers, artists and wordsmiths have constructed, construed and conveyed this wordplay through the generations. 

Free drop-in session for under 5s. Thanet-based children's author Lawrence Pereia will read to the children and lead an activity.

A panel discussion about queer women’s writing and stories hosted by Margate’s own award-winning comedian, podcaster and author Rosie Wilby. Rosie is joined by Diva magazine editor Roxy Bourdillon and Polari First Book Prize winner Nicola Dinan.  

Drawing on her own experience of adapting to life with chronic fatigue following a stroke in 2019, poet Sarah Bowman’s practical workshop explores how the reading and particularly the writing of poetry  move us out of emotional numbness and into a new sense of acceptance, agency and selfhood. 

Free drop-in session for under 5s. Thanet-based children's authors John Condon and Chris Horn will read to the children and lead them in activities.