A beaver detective, a gang of adventure-loving mice and a table full of mushroom bookmarks. From 8 to 10 October 2026, our first Brimscombe Mill Kids Book Fest brought local and national children’s authors, illustrators and families together at our community hub near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
We were thrilled by how many of you came. Thank you to every family who joined in, whether you came for your first ever author event, brought a well-loved book to be signed or stayed to see what else was happening around the Mill.
From a book cover competition to Friday night graphic novels
We kicked off on Thursday evening with a launch party and the winners of our book cover competition. Author and illustrator Tom Percival gave young designers four story ideas for a book called In Time and invited them to imagine what its cover might look like.
On Friday morning, local author Andy Hussey shared stories inspired by the outdoors with our youngest readers, and Stroud Library brought a drop-in craft table where little hands could make mushroom bookmarks and decorate matchboxes for tiny treasures. Later, John Dougherty filled the Sanctuary with funny poems, stories and songs, before Wren James showed teens how they created their graphic novel The Victors and gave them a chance to try drawing their own.
Saturday at the Mill, from Unipiggle to Adventuremice
Saturday began with Hannah Shaw’s Unipiggle drawing party and Martha Lightfoot’s Fly Me to the Moon illustration workshop. Alex T. Smith introduced us to Algernon Pickle, his beaver detective, and Helen Peters shared A Cat Called Cobweb, with a quiz and stories about the farm animals that inspired her books.
In the afternoon, Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre took us on an Adventuremice escapade with live drawing and storytelling. At the same time, Jess Butterworth helped young writers dream up wild settings and animal rescues in a workshop inspired by When the Mountains Roared. Onjali Q. Raúf rounded off the festival with a talk and reading from The Boy at the Back of the Class.
Between sessions, families could follow the story scavenger hunt, swap books, play and stop for something to eat at The Long Table. Author event tickets were £4.50, with tickets also available on us. As part of the 2026 National Year of Reading, we wanted more children to have the chance to meet a writer, try drawing a character or find a story they wanted to take home.
Thank you to the people who made it happen
A huge thank you to our sponsors Stephen Kinsella, Stroud District Council and Wheatley Printers for helping us make our first children’s book festival possible and keeping it affordable for local families.
And an especially big thank you to The Yellow Lighted Bookshop, our local independent bookshop and festival partner. They helped bring the authors to the Mill, ran the pop-up festival bookshop and hosted the signings. Getting to meet the person who wrote or illustrated the book in your hands was one of the loveliest parts of the weekend.
Thank you, too, to the authors, illustrators, volunteers and teams across the Mill who made room for all that reading, drawing, making and playing.
We’re doing it again
Brimscombe Mill Kids Book Fest will be back. We’ll share details of the next festival on our Kids Book Fest page.
If you’re looking for more things to do with children near Stroud, there’s plenty going on at Brimscombe Mill throughout the year. Come for a pay-as-you-can lunch at The Long Table, browse pre-loved children’s books and toys at Kids Stuff, or find your next family activity on our What’s On page.
