Our third annual festival featured 35 wonderful Authors across two days, with 12 brilliant events delivered from the stage. The festival hall contained 1,416 books and… 1049 of them were sold! The Raffle had 39 incredible pledges from businesses, Authors and Publishers, and raised £1056 for The Reading Agency. Phenomenal!
Firstly, what a team our volunteer crew was for the whole weekend, from start to finish (and for some in the lead up too!). A huge shoutout to every single person who made the weekend run smoothly, we have had nothing but amazing feedback since!
Once again, the festival was a celebration of creativity, community and conversation. It began on the Friday evening for those who joined in for the pub social event, and carries through even now in messages and comments about the festival, a week later! We welcomed new faces and met up with old friends, we had inspiring talks, interviews and in conversation style events and the atmosphere in the room was positive and buzzing from start to finish.
What a weekend!
Our third annual Tea Leaves & Reads Literary Festival was everything we could have hoped for – two wonderful days filled with books, brilliant authors, fascinating conversations, laughter, friendship, and that very special festival feeling that stays with you long after the final event has finished.
Across the weekend, we welcomed 35 wonderful authors and delivered 12 brilliant events from the stage, covering everything from historical fiction and later-life stories to romance, cosy fantasy, contemporary fiction, crime, thrillers, self-publishing, Gothic fiction and plenty of spice!
Our Festival Hall bookshop contained an incredible 1,416 books — and 1,049 of them found new homes! We couldn’t be more delighted to see so many books flying off the shelves and into the hands of readers. If you’ve run a festival you’ll know how expensive it can be and the Tea Leaves & Reads festival cost in the region of £9,600 to deliver… so selling that many books for us really helps!
Then there was our raffle. Thanks to the generosity of businesses, authors and publishers, we had 39 incredible pledges, helping us raise a phenomenal £1,056 for The Reading Agency. Phenomenal really is the word and, as we summed up in our social media posts, joy. There was complete and utter joy. At meeting old friends, making new ones, discovering favourite reads, chatting about books and seeing literary heroes.
It takes a village…
Before we talk about the authors, the books and the events, we have to talk about our volunteers. What a team. From the very beginning of the preparations, through setting up, welcoming authors and guests, running the bookshop, serving refreshments, helping people find their seats, keeping everything moving behind the scenes and staying until the very end – our volunteer crew were simply amazing and incredibly supportive. A huge shoutout to every single person who gave their time, energy and enthusiasm to make the weekend run so smoothly. We have had nothing but wonderful feedback since the festival, and so much of that is down to the warm welcome and calm, friendly atmosphere created by our incredible team. We genuinely couldn’t do it without you. And only some of them are pictured below!
Saturday: a brilliant start to the festival
Saturday morning saw the Festival Hall begin to fill, with the bookshop open for browsing and authors signing books before the official welcome. The programme got underway with Hazel Prior, Sally Page and Claire Carver, with Sam Holland, discussing The Heart of Later Life Fiction, followed by Rachel Hore, Kate Lord Brown and Santa Montefiore exploring The Art of Historical Fiction with Emma-Claire Wilson.
“I want some hope, my books are about hope, community & friendship – we want that in later life fiction as much as anywhere else.” – Sally Page on later life fiction
“How do you know when you’ve done enough research? Well you only need to know 5% more than your reader,” Santa Montefiore on research in historical fiction
From there, we moved into romance with Milly Johnson, Sue Moorcroft, Alex Neve and Becky Hunter chaired by Miranda Dickinson, before stepping into the wonderfully whimsical worlds of Bella Brightside and August Bloom’s latest novels – after a delicious lunch!
“Older people were once younger people!” – Milly Johnson on spice in romantic fiction
The afternoon brought Georgina Moore, Rosie Walsh and Clare Leslie Hall together for a conversation about contemporary fiction chaired by Emma-Claire Wilson, followed by a dive into the darker side of storytelling with Heather Critchlow, Jess Kitching, L.V. Matthews and Sam Holland discussing crime and thriller fiction with M J White.
“What do you want readers to feel when they read your books?”
Clare Leslie-Hall – “Hopeful”
Georgina Moore – “Truthful”
Rosie Walsh – “Panic”
There was plenty of opportunity in between for tea, cake, scone browsing and book buying (SO much book buying!). And then there were our fabulous MCs…With around 24 hours’ notice, two of our festival founding authors stepped up to compere the weekend – and what an incredible job they did. Nikki Moore and Emma-Claire Wilson guided us from panel to panel, keeping everything moving while bringing plenty of warmth, humour and personality to the stage. The feedback afterwards was incredible, with so much praise for their safe and welcoming guiding words – and for somehow keeping everyone on track while still making it feel like one big conversation.
“We all put ourselves into our books and characters as we need to be able to relate, even to the bad ones!” – L.V Matthews
Sunday: more books, more brilliant conversations… and TOASTIES!
Sunday saw us return for another packed day of panels, interviews and, yes, TOASTIES!
Once again, Nikki Moore and Emma-Claire Wilson took to the stage to keep the day flowing, with Amelia Berry joining them for the morning and bringing great energy! The programme began with an insider’s look at independent publishing, as Nikki Moore, Stacey McNeill and Liz Fenwick discussed taking your story from manuscript to market with Emma-Claire Wilson chairing. It was candid, honest and eye-opening. We are so grateful to all the Authors for trusting us with their knowledge and feelings on traditional V self-publishing.
“I’m the sort of person who draws something on Tuesday and wants it to be in Waterstones on Friday” Stacey McNeill
We then ventured into the darker worlds of Gothic Historical Fiction with Stephanie Bramwell-Lawes and A.J. West, before moving into feel-good contemporary romance with Holly Hepburn, Jane Lambert and Stacey McNeill chaired by Miranda Dickinson.
“You don’t have to write people as others have described them, telling is subjective.” – AJ West
“Keep believing, keeping going and don’t take rejection personally, things will turn around – I am proof of that.” – Jane Lambert
After lunch, (thank you Tipsy Toastie) things became suitably gripping with C.D. Major, Eleanor Barker-White and B.A. Paris, who explored the art of suspense and keeping readers turning the pages chaired by L.V Matthews.
“It’s much harder to write a thriller now, I like my characters to get away with it and these days anything and anyone is traceable with a phone.” – B.A Paris
Then came Love, Lust & Laughter, with Gemma Morr, Emma Rae and Sarra Manning chaired by Amelia Berry, talking about spice, passion, chemistry and everything that makes a romance impossible to put down – how many innuendos in one spicy romance panel…? I’ll let you guess!
“Spicy Romance is safe, we might put you through the wringer, but it will all end okay.” – Sarra Manning
“Some readers don’t want character development, they just want smut.” Gemma Morr
The festival programme closed with Carrie Hughes, interviewed by L.V. Matthews, exploring anger, resilience and women fighting back in fiction. And then, all too soon, it was time to say thank you and goodbye. The thirty-nine raffle prize winners were announced (squeals of excitement!) and the chatter and celebrations moved to social media as everyone began their journeys home.
One of the things I personally love the most about the festival – is that it isn’t just about what happens on the stage. It’s the Friday night social, it’s lining up for a teapot refill and chatting to a favourite Author, it’s the ‘I LOVED your book,’ and ‘I loved yours too!’ shouted across the car-park. It’s about people and connections – and nobody being left alone – or treated differently. It’s about readers meeting authors, authors meeting readers, old friends finding each other again, new friendships beginning, conversations continuing over cups of tea – and everyone having the opportunity to share their love of books. And it’s something quite magical.
We heard authors talk about the craft behind their books, the challenges of creating believable characters, the importance of research, the realities of publishing, the power of romance, the darkness of thrillers and the joy of creating stories that offer readers somewhere else to go. But alongside all those wonderful discussions was something harder to put into words. I think it was atmosphere. The room was positive and buzzing from start to finish. There was laughter, thoughtful questions (fuelled by pin badges). There were books being recommended between strangers who left as friends. There were Authors meeting Authors for the first time, and readers discovering them too. And there were plenty of conversations that continued long after the microphones had been switched off.
The Raffle Pledges
The Goody Boxes & More
Tea Leaves & Reads were generously supported by Harper Collins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Fox Under the Moon who provided books and items for the Goody bags along with donations from Tea Leaves and Reads themselves. IF PLC supplied every guest with a beautiful journal for jotting down notes during the event. Choices Hire Services provided all of the tableware free of charge. Tea Leaves & Reads sound equipment was primarily bought from a grant awarded by the Booksellers Association for which they are very grateful (in 2025). The cupcakes themed to the early release books were baked by Kate Lawton (they barely hung around for photographs!). With huge thanks to our neighbours, The Petal Boutique, for our floral displays on stage – they looked stunning! And we must also shout out to the fairy bookmother who purchased vouchers for people at random, to receive on the festival weekend – the joy those vouchers gave was beautiful!
The BOOKS!
A huge highlight of the festival was having 35 wonderful authors and their books all under one roof! Every book in our Festival Hall bookshop was signed, making them extra special for readers and book lovers alike – some even dedicated. While 1,049 books found new homes over the weekend, there are still plenty of fantastic reads to discover. If you missed out on the day, don’t worry – many of our festival authors’ books are available to buy in the shop and online now. Whether you’re looking for your next favourite read, catching up on a book you heard about during a panel, or searching for a signed copy, there’s still time to discover something special and support the brilliant authors who made our festival so memorable. Happy reading!
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