South London book festival returns
A South London book festival is returning with authors, workshops, guided walks and a food market—so there’s a new local, in‑person literary event to slot into spring plans (shortlist.com). The program mix suggests the festival aims to blend readings with neighborhood exploration and food, which is handy if you like combining short trips and book events (shortlist.com).
A London book festival that started as a chat among gardening volunteers is back in Beckenham Place Park on Saturday, April 25, with author talks, workshops, guided walks and a market spread across the park instead of packed into one hall. The event is called Books in the Park, and 2026 is its third year after a 2024 launch in Lewisham’s largest green space. The original idea was to use the park itself, including the Mansion and the Homestead area, as part of the appeal rather than just as a backdrop. That helps explain the format: adult and children’s events, writing sessions and interactive activities are mixed with time outdoors, so the day works more like wandering around a fair than sitting through a conference. The 2024 launch already paired talks with scavenger hunts and a walk led by Wild South London, and the newer editions have kept building on that template. This year’s version is free to enter, but most talks and workshops are sold as separate tickets. If you do buy a session ticket, the festival says it also gets you 10 percent off at the Mansion Café and the Homestead Café on site. The guest list has been one reason the festival has outgrown its small start. In 2025 it drew writers including Chloe Dalton, Kaliane Bradley, Louise Hare, Annie Lyons and Amelia Kyazze, alongside children’s events and workshops in poetry, flash fiction and fiction writing. The non-book parts are not filler. The park’s regular Food and Farmers Market runs alongside the festival, and earlier editions also added things like a local pop-up bookshop, a sewing school, nature walks and even a cheese tasting tied to Ned Palmer’s food writing. There is also a very local hook this time: one featured session marks 10 years since David Bowie’s death, and Beckenham is the right place for it because Bowie lived there early in his career. Shortlist says the discussion will be led by two authors who are also long-time Bowie fans. The festival’s organizers are pitching it as a calmer alternative to London’s bigger literary weekends, and the setting does a lot of that work. Beckenham Place Park already has ancient woodland, a community garden and a wild swimming lake, so the event can sell a day in the park as much as a day with books. The money story is also more community-focused than a standard ticketed festival. Shortlist reports that profits are put back into local projects, including literacy work and workshops for children in under-resourced schools. So the return here is not just another author lineup on a London calendar. It is a one-day festival in south London that has turned a park, a café, a market and a bookshop into the same outing, which is probably why it has lasted past its launch year.
