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STORIES FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN
Hastings Storytelling Festival 2026 will be back on Saturday 17th October until Sunday 25th October. We look forward to seeing you there!
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2026
Welcome to Hastings Storytelling Festival 2026. This October we celebrate with the theme 'Connections', bringing imaginative tales to life in schools, venues and public spaces across our town.
Families can enjoy Piers Torday’s new story Books According to Dog and Owl, meet award‑winning author Nadine Kaadan, hear live readings from Thomas Taylor and join Festival Patron Axel Scheffler for Gruffalo Stories with Gruffalo Granny at the White Rock Theatre. Children’s Day returns with a Gruffalo‑themed parade, puppetry, music, walkabout performers and not‑to‑be‑missed shows from CBeebies Pirate Gem and Long Nose Puppets.
Our adult programme features moving new work, gripping conversations and uplifting live performance, including Bev Lee Harling’s Things I Know and Things I Don’t, Dorothy Koomson discussing her new thriller The Quiet Girls, Zena Edwards exploring environmental poetics, Kate Corkery sharing Irish folklore and an immersive evening with Sarah Jane Morris, Trio and Deaf Rave.
With thanks to our sponsors, supporters and partners who help to keep the festival thriving and accessible for our community.
Explore the full 2026 programme below.
The magic of stories with Piers Torday
featuring Books According to Dog and Owl
Saturday 17 October
11am
Hastings Library, 13 Claremont, Hastings TN34 1HE
FREE
No booking required | limited space - please arrive early
To celebrate the National Year of Reading, award-winning children’s author Piers Torday (The Last Wild) will be sharing his latest story, Books According to Dog and Owl, with stunning illustrations from Tim Smart...
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The Norman Quest
Kester Sheridan
Sunday 18 October
11:30am
Downs Farm Community Centre, Crowborough Road, Hastings TN35 5EE
2:30pm
Robsack Centre, Bodiam Drive, Hastings TN38 9TW
FREE
No booking required | Access to a smartphone is needed to take part
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Dorothy Koomson
The Quiet Girls
Monday 19 October
7pm
White Rock Studio, White Rock Theatre, Hastings TN34 1JX
Join bestselling author Dorothy Koomson for an evening exploring her gripping new thriller The Quiet Girls, a story of secrets, danger and a prestigious boarding school where a teacher is dead and a pupil is missing...
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Kate Corkery
Stories from the Other Side
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Tuesday 20 October
7pm
Horse & Groom, 4 Mercatoria, St. Leonard's-on-Sea, TN38 0EB
As the nights draw in and the season of Samhain approaches, Kate Corkery invites you to gather for an evening of spellbinding stories from Irish folklore. At this time of year, the veil between the human world and the Otherworld is said to be thin, and strange encounters become possible...
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Thomas Taylor
Eerie-on-Sea
Thursday 22 October
4:30pm
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Old London Road, Hastings TN35 5NA
FREE
No booking required | limited space - please arrive early
Join festival Patron Thomas Taylor as he reveals the inspiration for Malamander, and his acclaimed seaside mystery series set in Eerie-on-Sea, where monsters lurk beneath the pier, child detectives Herbert Lemon and Violet Parma are on the case, and adventure is never far away...
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Sarah Jane Morris and Trio and Deaf Rave:
Explore haptic technology through their music
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Thursday 22 October
7pm
White Rock Studio, White Rock Theatre, Hastings TN34 1JX
This event introduces haptic vests, wearable devices that translate music into vibration, offering audiences an alternative sensory experience and expanding access for d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent attendees...
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Bev Lee Harling
Things I Know and Things I Don't
Friday 23 & Saturday 24 October
7:30pm
Stables Theatre, The Bourne, Hastings TN34 3BD
As her father’s dementia progressed, Bev Lee Harling gathered tales from his vivid memories of working life in the family foundry in Elephant and Castle – cobbled yards, molten liquid and the smell of burnt metal she remembered from childhood...
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Nadine Kaadan
Saturday 24 October
11am
Hastings Library, 13 Claremont, Hastings TN34 1HE
FREE
No booking required | limited space - please arrive early
Join award winning Syrian author and illustrator Nadine Kaadan as she reads her wonderfully funny book The Jasmine Sneeze, a magical tale about Haroun the cat, his love of sunny Damascus courtyards and...
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Carnival Arts Family Workshop
Drop-in workshop
Saturday 24 October
10:30am - 12:30pm
Isabel Blackman Centre, Hastings TN34 3AT
FREE
No booking required | limited space - drop-in any time between 10:30am and 12:30pm
Join us for a colourful, family friendly workshop where you can create something bright and imaginative to bring along and show the crowds at our Children’s Day parade...
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Axel Scheffler: Gruffalo Stories with Gruffalo Granny
A special family event with the beloved Gruffalo illustrator
Saturday 24 October
2pm
White Rock Theatre, Hastings TN34 1JX
Patron of Hastings Storytelling Festival, Axel Scheffler returns to the White Rock Theatre with a special family event celebrating the world of The Gruffalo. Axel will read The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child and the brand‑new Gruffalo Granny, published in 2026...
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Children's Day
Sunday 25 October
12pm - 4pm
The Stade, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW
FREE
No booking required
Children’s Day returns with stories, puppets, music and a Gruffalo themed parade including a special guest, Tor Freeman, invited by Axel Scheffler, alongside Pirate Gem from CBeebies with her Swashbuckling Adventure show...
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