Welcome to Cuckfield Life’s Cuckfield Bookfest event page. Here you will find our most recent information for everything Bookfest.

As a community interest group, Bookfest relies on the generous support from sponsors, benefactors and friends to help them host brilliant writers and new talents every year.

Cuckfield Book Fest – tickets on sale now

Tickets have been on sale for the ninth book festival since mid August and they are proving really popular. As usual, the literary quiz sold out very quickly but there are plenty of other events to bring you along, whatever your particular interest. There are two workshops, one on creative writing and one on the use of social media to drive sales.

There’s a distinct political flavour to Saturday with biographies of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair but as a complete contrast, Dr Benji Waterhouse will be talking about life as a psychiatrist: as he’s also a stand-up comedian, it should provide laughs as well.

Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield is providing a new and appropriate venue for Andrew Ziminski’s muchpraised book Church Going which is a stonemason’s guide to the churches of the British Isles. Andrew will be in conversation on Saturday with David Thunder, loyal supporter of the festival.

Saturday night ends with Helen Lederer who became a trailblazer in the male-dominated world of alternative comedy and whose witty narrative delivers real punch.

Sunday begins with Andrew Lownie’s new book Entitled which traces the lives of the Duke and Duchess of York. Cuckfield has a long connection with dinosaurs and Michael Taylor’s new book Impossible Monsters tells how the discovery of dinosaur fossils changed the world. Hermione Cockburn, born and brought up in Cuckfield, will be asking the questions.

Many people will remember Rory Cellan-Jones when he was the BBC’s principal technology correspondent. After his retirement and diagnosis with Parkinson’s, Rory adopted Sophie as a pet and his book Sophie From Romania follows his journey.

Children will be welcomed in Holy Trinity Church on Saturday with two events and there’s a third on Sunday afternoon in the Queen’s Hall.

Cuckfield Book Festival takes place between 3rd and 5th October. More details and tickets from: www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk

Quick update 2025

26th September 2025 - Literary Quiz, The Talbot, Cuckfield
3rd October 2025 - Ockenden Manor Supper, Ockenden Manor, Ockenden Lane
4th - 5th October 2025 - Literary events (Queen’s Hall, The Talbot and Holy Trinity Church)

We are very excited to announce that Steve Richards, highly regarded political columnist, journalist, author and presenter, will be joining us for supper at Ockenden this year, on Friday, 3rd October. He will be delighting us with political gossip, plots and intrigues, and a few choice impressions along the way. If you can’t make the supper, Steve will also be on stage on Saturday morning to talk about his new biography of Tony Blair.

Joining Saturday’s political commentary from Iain Dale and Jonathan Sumption’s analysis of the state of democracy today, we have a diverse programme with a refreshingly optimistic take on environmental action in Isabel Losada’s, The Joyful Environmentalist. A special event discussing the work of James Baldwin celebrates the centenary of the African American writer’s birth, with three of the contributors to Encounters with James Baldwin. Crime fans won’t be disappointed either, as Jessica Bull returns Jane Austen to the detective scene in A Fortune Most Fatal and Ciar Byrne introduces us to her second Woolf & Bell mystery.

Sunday elevates the emotional stakes with Anne Sebba’s deeply moving account of The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, a meticulously researched exploration of music’s role in survival during humanity’s darkest chapter. History enthusiasts will be equally gripped by Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s The Scapegoat, chronicling the meteoric rise and fall of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, while Phil Craig examines the uncomfortable truths of WW2’s aftermath in 1945: The Reckoning.

Children’s events this year include Storytelling with Debutots, using dramatic play, music, games and wrap-around sensory activities to exercise imaginations and develop confidence, and a drawalong session with local author/illustrator and animation director Steve Lenton.

And as a reminder, if you belong to a book group and are looking for your next book to read, our Big Book Group on Sunday evening is Sweat by Emma Healey.
Tickets will go on sale for Friends and Benefactors on Saturday 16th August, and general booking opens Saturday 23rd August. Find out more https://cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk/
We hope you can join us!

Cuckfield Bookfest 2025 dates

We’ll be back this year over the weekend of October 3rd – 5th so do please put the date in your new diary now!

As usual, the Cuckfield Festival management team has been busy planning the programme for 2025. After a quiet January, life got busy in February and we now have several authors lined up.

First up, at 10am on the Saturday morning, is Iain Dale coming to talk about his book on Mrs Thatcher, which is published in June. Iain said he thought 10am might be too early for an audience but we assured him that the people of Cuckfield love a political theme to start proceedings, particularly if it’s Iain delivering it.

Also on Saturday, we have a new venue for a session – Holy Trinity Church. Church Going by Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason’s guide to the churches of the British Isles. This book is a celebration of Britain’s most important and iconic buildings and the historic Holy Trinity Church is the perfect place for this session.

In 2004, Baroness Lola Young became one of the first Black women members of the House of Lords. Eight Weeks tells the powerful story of her determination to defy the odds; she has been an actress, an academic, an activist and campaigner for social justice and a crossbench peer. She is also a very beguiling speaker.

Jonathan Sumption’s latest book, The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law has just been published and is already highly praised. We are particularly lucky to have him as he is very much sought after.

The book selected for the Big Book Group on Sunday evening is SWEAT by Emma Healey whose first book Elizabeth is Missing sold many thousands of copies all over the world. SWEAT is a novel exploring obsession, revenge and control and it will provide lots of points for discussion.

Lots more authors pending at this stage and as usual there will be something for children. Details of all events in due course and the website is the place to go for more information. www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk