Join Tamara Rattigan for an hour of pure fun!
Tamara will tell you great stories and show you how to create your own paper roll characters.
We provide all the essentials – card, paper, colours, glitter, glue, scissors and even the loo rolls. And you provide the kids!
A lovely way to kick off Saturday.
Ideal for children aged 3-8.
A walk "underpinned by a desire to see what happens when an artwork 'wanders' into unfamiliar terrain" (from The Art of Walking, a field guide edited by David Evans).
Join Elspeth Penfold and Walking with the Wasteland. Enjoy a rhythmic walk using movement and sound with a focus on the breath and voice to engage with TS Eliot's The Waste Land.
You are invited to sit in the seat at The Nayland Rock Shelter where TS Eliot wrote parts of The Waste Land. Here you will listen to selected pieces of music, some might surprise you!
You can participate in an open mic reading or listen to extracts read from The Waste Land. We would encourage you to bring your own voice/language and sound to the poem and are encouraging a range of experimental readings and sounds.
Then, walk with us on Margate Sands connecting nothing with nothing. Searching for the magic in the everyday, we will use the site, sound, breath and movement to explore the poem through playful actions.
The walk will end at the Turner Contemporary where we will spend half an hour in the Foyle room overlooking the sea using ropes to connect walking, weaving and observing with storytelling #Icanconnect.
Tickets are free but numbers are limited. Book yours today!
We’re honoured that Louis de Bernières is joining us for a recital at 2pm. The session will be hosted by novelist PJ Whiteley.
Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is … Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. ― Louis de Bernières, Corelli's Mandolin
A seductive, clever tale of crime, punishment and love among thieves set in 1720s London - Jake Arnott does for the 18th century what he did for the 1960s in his cult hit The Long Firm.
London, the 1720s. The financial crash caused by the South Sea Bubble sees the rise of Jonathan Wild, self-styled 'Thief-taker General' who purports to keep the peace while brutally controlling organised crime. Only two people truly defy him: Jack Sheppard, apprentice turned house-breaker, and his lover, the notorious whore and pickpocket Edgworth Bess.
From the condemned cell at Newgate, Bess gives her account of how she and Jack formed the most famous criminal partnership of their age: a tale of lost innocence and harsh survival, passion and danger, bold exploits and spectacular gaol-breaks. As the gallows casts its grim shadow, who will live to escape the Fatal Tree?
The Fatal Tree is a tour de force; inventive, atmospheric and rich in the street slang of the era. Drawing on real figures and a true history of crime, punishment and rough justice, it tells a heartbreaking story of love and betrayal.
Jake will be in conversation with Margate Bookie favourite, Simon Wroe.
PJ (Philip) Whiteley writes romantic comedies, with a contemporary setting. He doesn’t invent a fantasy world, as he considers Britain in the early 21st Century to be quite weird enough.
Louis de Bernières said of Philip’s second novel: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed Marching on Together and was happily carried along by the wonderfully realized characters.’ Now, he has penned a spin-off. The Rooms We Never Enter, to be published by Unbound with the help of a crowdfunding platform, features the would-be love affair between one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Britain and a single mum on a minimum wage income. George Mowatt takes as his third home a terraced house near the stadium of his beloved football team, and he becomes neighbour to Karen Barnes, at least on match days. The spark between them is instant, but their lives are a world apart, and their hearts keep missing each other’s beat. Will George’s riches be Karen’s salvation or an overwhelming obstacle that defeats them both?
The Rooms We Never Enter is a funny, heartfelt tale of missed opportunities and a love that seems to be forever just out of reach – with some sharp observations on social realities at opposite ends of the income scale in modern Britain.
Philip’s books and short stories also come with a soundtrack. Songs by the Kaiser Chiefs, the Beatles, REM and others feature in his writings, reflecting his early life experiences going to gigs, and playing the guitar badly. At this special evening of readings and songs, his guest musicians and singers perform these timeless classics, while Philip and invited guests read from some of his work.
If you would like to see The Rooms We Never Enter in print, please support Philip in his crowdfunding campaign. At this one-off evening event, you’ll be able to hear all about the different ways in which you can be part of the project:
• Have a character named after youAll supporters get their name listed in the book. Special note: this evening gig is free but Crowdfunding is not. Find out more here.
Set List
• Love’s Not a Competition, Kaiser Chiefs 
What can your children do to feel and stay happier? Science shows that we can learn happiness skills. In this engaging and interactive workshop, for children between the ages of 7 and 11 years (and accompanying adults) participants will learn fun ways to boost and maintain happiness.
This session is led by leading happiness and resilience expert and author Vanessa King and teacher and education consultant Val Payne. It’s based on their new book for children aged 7 - 11 years, 50 Ways to Feel Happy (also co-authored with Peter Harper). This colourful and beautifully illustrated new children’s book builds on the foundation of the evidence-based 10 Keys to Happier Living that Vanessa developed for leading social movement Action for Happiness and which she explored in her 2016 book for adults. It’s packed full of activities and ideas to try individually and with family and friends.
So whether your children feel happy right now and want to stay that way, would like some ideas to help them feel happier or are simply curious to explore what happiness means and the actions it takes, this session is for them.You may even learn a thing or two for yourself!
(Interesting fact - Vanessa is a trustee of the Margate Bookie, which of course contributes to her happiness!)
Richard Skinner is one of the UK’s most revered writing coaches, teaching at Goldsmith’s University and the Faber & Faber novel writing academy.
In this session you'll get an introduction to poetry. Working in pairs you will reimagine and re-tell journeys, ending up with a new piece of work centred on your personal experiences.
You lucky people! For the fourth consecutive year, Vanguard Readings is delighted to be back at the one-and-only Margate Bookie.
Set up by Richard Skinner, and hosted by Mr Adrian Cross, it’s your chance to listen to six top quality authors at Turner Contemporary. Readings start at 1pm.
Make sure you reserve a ticket as this event is always super-popular.
The readers are David Barker, Paul Dornan, Chloe Esposito, Karen Hamilton, Evalyn Lee and Rose McGinty.
An electrifying performer who owns her audience, Salena Godden will inspire you to write with authenticity - being your own narrator and telling your own stories.
Salena likes to encourage people to have the confidence to write about their own life experiences and perform this in their own voice. She’ll help you to kill that 'poetry voice'.
Be You, Do You!
Join Tamara Rattigan for a gooey afternoon!
Tamara will read from her books and teach you to how to make your own slime. Learn the secret recipe for the squishiest and stretchiest slime in the whole wide world!
Adults can settle into one of Bernie’s plump sofas and enjoy a fine selection of cakes and drinks. And chocolate, of course, to make this a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon.
Ideal for children aged 3-11.
Readings ‘in character’ from Richard Skinner's recently reissued Faber & Faber novel. Joining Richard are the authors David Barker, Paul Dornan, Chloe Esposito, Karen Hamilton, Evalyn Lee and Rose McGinty.
A new edition of Richard Skinner's classic novel about the life of Mati Hari, released to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of her death.
When Margaretha Zelle, a young woman living in The Hague, answers a lonely hearts advertisement she becomes drawn into a relationship with an army captain twice her age. After a hasty wedding, they depart for Indonesia, where the marriage collapses amid infidelity and violence.
Seeking a new life, Margaretha returns to Europe and travels to Paris, where she adopts the stage name Mata Hari, reinventing herself as an exotic dancer. In her new role she attracts the attention of numerous admirers, many of whom are officers, ready to share their secrets with a woman of notorious allure and intrigue, as Europe lurches towards explosive conflict.
Not to be missed! Two experts create a unique workshop to help you write and feel well.
Elise Valmorbida, author and creative writing teacher, and Vanessa King, author and psychologist, will explore how to apply the science of happiness to the art and practice of creative writing.
Building on their popular and practical session at last August’s Bookie, Elise and Vanessa will introduce you to new ideas from psychology and how to use them to boost your wellbeing, fuel your creativity, spark your imagination and help you craft compelling words.
Live in Margate – the electrifying Salena Godden!
Salena Godden is one of the UK’s foremost poets, regularly anthologised and headlining festivals nationally and internationally. A BBC regular, Salena Godden has written and presented many arts and music programmes. Before Salena it’s the Bookie Slam.
Margate hosts some of the most highly contested poetry slams this side of London. This dynamic spin on open mics pits poets against each in a bid to be declared champion.
Who will take the stage as part of the Margate Grand Slam, alongside Neanderthal Bard (2015 LitFest Champion), Jessica Rose (2017 Diversity Champion) and Dylan Stallard (2017 Soul Champion)?
Children aged seven and up can make their own fanzine with Sam Gayton, author of popular books like Hercufleas.
This hands-on session will involve origami, colouring and creative writing.
A call-to-action for female adventurers everywhere, renowned travel writer Anna Hart’s first book is about the power of travel to transform us, heal us, challenge us and turn us into everyday adventure seekers even after we return to the grind back home.
Have you ever turned up on a post-heartbreak holiday hopelessly unprepared and been forced to sleep on the floor wrapped up in a curtain? How about that eagerly-awaited solo adventure when you had to be airlifted home? Or what about the time you went to a fascinating European cultural capital and neglected to visit any of the world-renowned sights because you were in the bar?
Well, Anna Hart has been on all those holidays, and more. As an avid traveller and then travel journalist, she's spent most of her working life on a plane somewhere, and over 10 years writing about the places she's ended up. In Departures she brings all of that knowledge together with the signature warmth and wit of her journalism. Anna is here to show that even the experts get it wrong – and how to get it right.
Anna will be interviewed by award-winning journalist and agony aunt Daisy Buchanan.
Come and celebrate the launch of the first fiction anthology from Thanet Writers!
Five great local authors will read from published work and work-in-progress. Hear – and meet – Catherine Law, David Lee Stone, Maggie Harris, Matthew Munson and Seb Reilly from 2.30pm onwards.
Thanet Writers have been publishing local authors and poets online for the past two years, and are now expanding into book publishing with the launch of their first fiction anthology. Bringing together over twenty short stories from local writers, the anthology reflects the scale of writing talents across Thanet.
The first edition will be on sale during the Bookie before general release the following week. There’s a high possibility of champagne.
Tickets are £4 and that includes a £5 voucher for the anthology (RRP £10).
Thanet Writers is a Community Interest Company (CIC No. 10690420) and publisher that is committed to promoting literature, poetry, education, culture, the arts, and writers with a link to Thanet. Comprised of a network of over 100 authors, poets, journalists, bloggers, and writers, from hobbyists to professionals, Thanet Writers supports and nurtures writing talent and craft, along with developing local events and contributing to the local cultural community.
Children aged three and over will write and draw a brand new character - includes painting, writing, drawing and nursery rhymes.
Margate’s Dosh Archer has always enjoyed inverting fairy stories. She’ll engage your children and playfully get them to consider characters from a different point of view. And you’ll learn how she created the characters in her Urgency Emergency series.
Remember, the Big Bad Wolf has feelings too!
