Kate Pankhurst, Hansel and Gretel, Lydia Monks and both Wondershelf shows are fully booked; 21 free sessions at The Atkinson, 26 to 30 Oct, have places.
Southport town centre is getting a free children’s book festival this October half term. Books Alive! runs from Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October, Sefton Council announced on Tuesday 8 September (Sefton Council).
Its centrepiece is a trail based on The Jolly Postman, Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s picture book, which turns 40 this year. Nine large-scale installations will be placed around the town centre.
Visit Southport describes it as a “totally free festival” (Visit Southport).
Updated 30 September: the council has published the trail locations and the Festival of Stories programme. The trail is open 10am to 4pm daily, and the author events are free but must be booked (Sefton Council, 30 September). Details below.
Updated 14 October: Lydia Monks’ draw-along (Thursday 29 October, 10am) and both performances of Tmesis Theatre’s The Wondershelf (29 October 2.30pm, 30 October 1pm) are now fully booked at The Atkinson. The box office has also opened free fringe sessions on 26, 27 and 28 October, listed below (The Atkinson box office).
Updated 20 October: Kate Pankhurst’s session (Friday 30 October, 10am) and Altru Drama’s Hansel and Gretel (Thursday 29 October, 10.30am) are now fully booked too, making five. Story Time with Fairy Godfather (28 October) was down to its last place and John Kirk’s 1pm story hunt (26 October) to two (The Atkinson box office).
Where the trail goes
The nine installations are at Town Hall Gardens, Wayfarers Arcade, Mermaid Gardens, Lord Street, Southport Market, Tulketh Street and Waterstones on Chapel Street, open 10am to 4pm every day from 24 to 31 October. Scenes include Cinderella’s castle as a moving papercut, Jack’s beanstalk with the Giant’s oversized belongings, and a Goldilocks tea party table. Trail maps are free from The Atkinson, or can be downloaded from Visit Southport.
What is in the festival
The council describes three parts.
The Jolly Postman Trail. Make CIC has been commissioned to work with artists from across the Liverpool City Region. They are building nine large-scale installations of scenes and characters from the book. Families follow a trail map, and can post their own letters along the route.
Puffin, the book’s publisher, is also giving a free copy to every Key Stage One class in the Southport Learning Partnership Network.
The Festival of Stories. This runs on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October at Southport Library and The Atkinson, in partnership with Children’s Books North Network, hosted by the CBeebies presenter and author Katy Ashworth. The full line-up of authors and illustrators is:
- Lydia Monks
- Salomey Doku
- Natalie Denny
- Metaphrog
- Dapo Adeola
- Kate Pankhurst
- Ruth Awolola
- Ashley Thorpe
- Gabrielle Kent
- Joseph Coelho
Altru Drama performs Hansel and Gretel, there are free craft workshops in The Atkinson’s art gallery, and the foyer hosts Noisy Noise Noise, a sound library of more than 90 books that set off noises when opened. Every event is free, but advance booking is required because places are limited. Book at Visit Southport or The Atkinson box office (Sefton Council, 30 September).
The Atkinson’s box office already lists the sessions, most capped at six tickets a booking, and several are BSL interpreted (The Atkinson).
The Fringe Festival. Local businesses, community groups and venues run their own book-themed events across the town.
Free sessions at The Atkinson, and which have gone
Every session below is free and booked through The Atkinson’s box office, at most six tickets a booking. Status as the box office showed it on 20 October (The Atkinson box office).
| Day | Time | Session | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 26 Oct | 10.30am | Genevieve Aspinall: author reading and story activities (age 4+, fringe) | Places left |
| Mon 26 Oct | 1pm, 2.30pm | John Kirk: We're going on a Musical Story Hunt (fringe) | Places left |
| Tue 27 Oct | 10.30am | Susan Brownrigg: author reading and story activities (fringe) | Places left |
| Tue 27 Oct | 1pm, 2.30pm | Jude Lennon: storytelling and author discussion (age 8+, fringe) | Places left |
| Wed 28 Oct | 11am | Story Time with Fairy Godfather (ages 4 to 7, fringe) | One place left |
| Wed 28 Oct | 12pm | Dance with Cinderella workshop (ages 7 to 11, fringe) | Places left |
| Wed 28 Oct | 1pm, 2pm | Wonder Library: sensory stories (fringe) | Places left |
| Wed 28 Oct | 2.30pm | Comedy with Buttons (ages 7 to 11, fringe) | Places left |
| Thu 29 Oct | 10am | Lydia Monks: The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile draw-along (BSL) | Fully booked |
| Thu 29 Oct | 10.30am | Altru Drama: Hansel and Gretel | Fully booked |
| Thu 29 Oct | 11.15am | Salomey Doku: draw-along, You Can Do Anything, Tyrone! (BSL) | Places left |
| Thu 29 Oct | 12.30pm | EggPeople: Poetry Slammed (BSL); Natalie Denny: Keisha Jones Takes on the World | Places left |
| Thu 29 Oct | 2pm | Metaphrog: graphic novel workshop (BSL) | Places left |
| Thu 29 Oct | 2.30pm | Tmesis Theatre: The Wondershelf | Fully booked |
| Thu 29 Oct | 3.15pm | Dapo Adeola: Super Goat Girl (BSL) | Places left |
| Fri 30 Oct | 10am | Kate Pankhurst: Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World | Fully booked |
| Fri 30 Oct | 10.30am | Little Seeds Music: Tales from the Lighthouse (BSL) | Places left |
| Fri 30 Oct | 11.15am | Ruth Awolola: interactive poetry workshop | Places left |
| Fri 30 Oct | 12.30pm | Ashley Thorpe: The Boy to Beat the Gods | Places left |
| Fri 30 Oct | 1pm | Tmesis Theatre: The Wondershelf | Fully booked |
| Fri 30 Oct | 2pm | Gabrielle Kent: How Stories Begin workshop (BSL) | Places left |
| Fri 30 Oct | 3.15pm | Joseph Coelho: Rapunzel is a Lettuce (BSL) | Places left |
Southport Market adds a Books Alive Room on the Broom session on Saturday 31 October, 10am to 11am (Southport Market).
How businesses joined the fringe
A business that wanted to join the fringe had to submit its idea by 9 October, through Visit Southport’s event form (Visit Southport). The rules are short:
- put “Books Alive!” in the event title
- include a literacy-themed element
- make it suitable for primary-school-aged children
Taking part brings a free support package, subject to availability:
- website and social media graphics with the festival logos
- an official window sticker
- bookmarks to hand out to customers
- a listing on VisitSouthport.com
The form should take about ten minutes, the organisers say. Sefton’s tourism team, at tourism@sefton.gov.uk, will help develop an idea. The festival is delivered by that team, with creative support from Culture Liverpool.
It follows a record summer for Sefton’s libraries
Books Alive! comes straight after Sefton Libraries’ biggest Summer Reading Challenge. A record 3,456 children signed up to this year’s music-themed challenge, Read to the Beat (Sefton Council, 9 September).
That beat last year’s record of 3,100 by 356 children, about 11% more. Two thousand had signed up in the first week of the school holidays alone.
Cllr Liz Dowd, the cabinet member responsible for libraries, called the sign-ups “a fantastic achievement”. She tied the two together. Books Alive!, she said, “builds on that success by bringing stories to life beyond the library and classroom”.
What it means for you
- Keep the week in mind if you have primary-age children. The festival starts the Saturday before Sefton’s half term and ends the Saturday after it. Our Southport half-term guide covers the rest of that week’s events and prices.
- Book the author events now. They are free but ticketed, and most are limited to six tickets a booking. The trail needs no booking.
- Coming by train from Liverpool? Merseyrail’s Northern Line works run from 11 October to 6 November. Southport trains still run, to a changed timetable. On Sundays they run only as far as Sandhills, which includes Sunday 25 October (Merseyrail). Our Southport train times page has more.
- Missed a session? Five of the 26 free sessions at The Atkinson are fully booked; the rest had places on 20 October, some only one or two, so book soon.
Sources
- Sefton Council, Next chapter of Books Alive! revealed, 30 September 2026, for the trail sites, opening hours, the full author line-up and the booking rule.
- Sefton Council, Books Alive! Exciting chapter as Southport to become living storybook this October half term, 8 September 2026, for the dates, the three strands, the authors, the partners and the quotes.
- Visit Southport, Books Alive! for the free entry and the programme status, and its Fringe Festival page for the 9 October deadline, the rules and the support package.
- Sefton Council, Summer Reading Challenge breaks record, 9 September 2026, for the 3,456 and 3,100 sign-up figures.
- Merseyrail, Northern Line tunnel upgrade: service information, for the 11 October to 6 November arrangements.
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