Cuckfield Bookfest

Cuckfield Bookfest

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.

See also, Cuckfield Bookfest


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 next 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

Mid Downs Radio at the Princess Royal Hospital

Sampling the delights of Cuckfish at MDR

Sampling the delights of Cuckfish at MDR

Mid Downs Radio has continued to broadcast 24/7 throughout the pandemic from studios on the first floor of the Princess Royal Hospital. The station is a registered charity and provides music, entertainment and regularly updated information on health, hospital, social care and community matters to patients, staff and visitors to the hospital complex as well as to the wider community.

All the MDR presenters are volunteers who host a wide variety of shows. Production Manager Paul Barnett presents his ‘Tiffin with Paul’, an eclectic mix of music, poems and lively banter with co host Cathy, on Thursday afternoons from 3-5 pm. He has also been seen regularly in the Outside Broadcast Unit compering Cuckfield Christmas Night with MDR Technical Manager Gary Simons.

MDR has been delighted to help promote the brilliant Cuckfield Bookfest since its inception as well as the Music Festival, the 100th anniversary of Cuckfield Tennis Club and the opening of Cuckfish. Since launching the Listen Live service through the website and TuneIn App there has been an increase in listeners. MDR continues to support other charities and organisations by publicising their work and events through interviews and in some cases providing promotional fillers that go out regularly on air. If you would like to know more about promoting your charity through MDR please contact Wendy Swinton-Eagle at wendy@mdr.org.uk.

MDR funds itself through Grants & Membership fees but mainly through hiring out our distinctive Outside Events Unit and now the new fully equipped Mobile Disco complete with professional DJ, Lee Gillet all at very competitive rates.

To find out more about Mid Downs Radio, to read our latest magazine or to Listen Live please visit our website at www.mdr.org.uk