About this event
Books, words, writers and ideas – MK Lit Fest has a title for everyone, and every one a page turner! Between Wednesday 9 and Saturday 12 April, the Festival is hosting 18 events in venues across CMK, with author talks and interviews, children’s events, writing workshops, the prizegiving for their 2025 writing competition, and a very special event celebrating 8 years of working with local writers.
From famous names – Mark Billingham, Sarah Pinborough and Edward Stourton – to debut authors, cookbook writers, historians, ecopoets, YA novels and more, the festival has something for anyone who celebrates the joy of books (and for those who have yet to!). Hear a stellar panel discuss free speech and literature, enjoy a tasting plate of Indian food, learn about the first English travellers to India in the sixteenth century, enjoy a novel that mixes romcom, timetravel, spy thriller and more, or shudder at the true tale of notorious murderer Dr Crippen… if books are food for thought, MK Lit Fest is a banquet. To join the feast, go to www.mklitfest.org and book your tickets now!
Event schedule
- Next event
- Wednesday 9 April 2025, 10:00- 15:00
- Upcoming events
- Wednesday 9 April 2025, 19:00- 20:00
- Thursday 10 April 2025, 18:30- 19:15
- Thursday 10 April 2025, 19:45- 20:45
Event location details
Location
Milton Keynes, City of Milton Keynes, England, United KingdomWednesday, 9th April
Ingram Day for Indie Authors
10am-3pm
IngramSpark Kiln Farm
SOLD OUT
Tour Ingram’s world-class printing facility, gain in-depth knowledge on key aspects of successful publishing, including marketing, distribution and metadata, and meet other local writers. A must for anyone interested in indie and self-publishing.
Edward Stourton: Confessions
7-8pm
Waterstones CMK
£10/£7
One of British broadcasting’s best-known names reflects on his life against the context of a world that’s changed dramatically during his forty-year career. As, of course, has Ed, who shares his remarkable journey with his familiar candour, humour and insight.
Thursday, 10th April
Home: MinK2025 Prizewinners Ceremony and Anthology Launch
6.30-7.15pm
The Parks Trust Pavilion, Campbell Park
£Free
Celebrate the winners of our 2025 Creative Writing Competition – exploring the theme ‘Home’ – as author Michael Stewart awards the prizes and introduces readings by the winning writers, and we launch MinK#5, our latest anthology of the best local writing.
Poetry in the Pavilion: Hannah Copley and Will Burns
7.45-8.45pm
The Parks Trust Pavilion, Campbell Park
£10/£7
As a new wave of nature-writing in poetry explores our vital and threatened relationship with the environment and the flora and fauna with which we share it, two superb poets share their work and discuss how they address the natural world.
Friday, 11th April
Workshops
Community Learning MK, CMK Library
£20/£15 per workshop (places limited)
Finding Your Voice: Workshop with Michael Stewart
10am-12pm
We often talk about a writer’s voice, but what does it mean? This workshop explores the relationship between voice and style, how your voice can be developed, and its importance in shaping how your work is received.
What Editing Is: Workshop with Aki Schilz
12.30-2.30pm
Discover how a professional editor thinks when they review a manuscript, and how to apply this approach to your own work. Learn what editing is, what publishers are looking for, how to finish your book, and your best next steps as a writer.
Spinning Tales with Myth and Folklore: Workshop with Zoe Gilbert
3-5pm, £20/£15
Explore using myth and folklore as starting points for fiction, and approaches to creating modern myths and informing folklore-inspired tales. This includes tools, readings and exercises to shape traditional sources into brand-new stories while retaining their inherent resonance and power.
Free Speech and the Politics of Literature
6-7pm
Waterstones CMK
£10/£7
Literature has always been on the front line in debates about free speech – and never more so than today. Join Aki Schilz, Henry Porter, Sabrina Mahfouz and Dónall Mac Cathmhaoill, writers whose distinct experiences and expertise on the issue of freedom of expression can help make sense of our paradoxical times.
Kaliane Bradley: The Ministry of Time in conversation with Eley Williams
7.30-8.30pm
Waterstones CMK
£10/£7
In Kaliane Bradley’s astonishing debut novel, a mysterious government ministry gathers ‘expats’ from history to test the limits of time travel. In this fabulous fusion of genre and ideas, she asks, how can you defy history when history is living in your house?
Saturday, 12th April
Lubaaba Al-Azami: Travellers in the Golden Realm
10.30-11.30am
CMK Library
£10/£7
Cultural historian Lubaaba Al-Azami explores the dramatic story of the first English travellers to India in the 16th century, their encounters with an unimaginable superpower – the Mughal dynasty – and what grew from this tempestuous period of England’s past.
Anna February: The Hive (Young Adult)
12-1pm
CMK Library
£5
A thrilling dystopian murder mystery in a ruthless future monarchy. Bodyguard Feldspar awaits execution, guilty of living when her charge lies dead. With just one defender, a royal maverick, on her side, she has three days to uncover the truth…
Hallie Rubenhold: Story of a Murder
1.30-2.30pm
CMK Library
£10/£7
Award-winning social historian Hallie Rubenhold subverts history with her epic retelling of the wife-murderer Dr Crippen’s infamous true-crime story – and how an extraordinary group of music hall women brought him to justice.
Sanjana Modha: Sanjana Feasts
3-4pm
CMK Library
£12.50/£9 (includes a tasting plate)
Sanjana Modha, a rising star in modern Indian cuisine, showcases the bold flavours and creativity of the Indian diaspora, and explores how the recipes she loves are rooted in her Indian heritage, East African family background, and Yorkshire childhood.
Children’s Lit Fest Saturday 12th April
CMK Library
£5 per event (plus £3 per accompanying adult)
Laura Henry-Allain: Maya & Marley and the Great Big Tidy Up (Age 4+)
12-1pm
Age 4+
Join Maya and Marley on their Great Big Tidy Up! Laura Henry-Allain – creator of CBeebies series JoJo and Gran Gran – brings her adventurous new picture book to life, and reminds us that caring for our world and each other makes everyone happier!
Jack Noel: Dadbot (Age 6+)
1.30-2.30pm
Age 6+
Meet the all-new DADBOT at this hilarious event full of puns, drawing and dastardly dad-napping! Josh and Daisy upgrade to a super-strength robo-dad, but evil Dr Egg wants him too. Can they save Dadbot before it’s too late?
Onjali Q. Raúf: The Letter with the Golden Stamp (Age 8+)
3-4pm
Age 8+
Onjali Q. Raúf shares the adventures of Audrey, a secret Young Carer, stamp collector – and thief – whose mysterious neighbour just might be a spy. With her best friends and a friendly postman in tow, she must find a way to save her family…
Raising Voices: A Chorus of Local Writers
5-6.30pm
Waterstones, Midsummer Place
£Free
Tales from the city, from green spaces, from home. From Midsummer, Midwinter, Lammas, the future, the past and more... Join us for a medley of readings that celebrate fabulous local writing from eight years of MK Lit Fest.
Mark Billingham: The Wrong Hands in conversation with Sarah Pinborough
7.30-8.30pm
Waterstones CMK
£10/£7
Multi-bestselling Mark Billingham – one of our most acclaimed and popular crime writers – brings his brilliant, twisty new detective novel The Wrong Hands to MK, in conversation with internationally bestselling author Sarah Pinborough. Join us for a criminally entertaining festival finale!