A bit about us
There are five of us who make up Holmfirth Book Festival Community Interest Company (CIC); Alex, Dan, James, Louise and Penny. We all live in Holmfirth and we all love books.
We are a non-profit organisation committed to promoting reading and books. Two of the five members of the CIC also run Read. Bookshop in Holmfirth and have lots of experience running in-person and virtual author events with schools.
Why we are raising money
There is something special about children being able to meet their favourite authors and so we are determined to launch a new children's book festival on 27th/28th September 2025 to bring authors to Holmfirth for a weekend packed full of live in-person events at The Civic.
What we are looking to raise
We are estimating that we will need £8500 to set up and run the festival in its first year. We have successfully been awarded a grant from Longley Farm through the One Community Fund which will go towards paying for some of the author, illustrator and venue costs. We are crowdfunding for £2000 of the total to help pay for advertising and marketing the events. This will help us to spread the word so that we can make it a sustainable and successful annual event.
Why support us?
We already work regularly with schools in the local community to promote a love of reading and improve access to books. We are experienced at hosting events and leading large scale projects, in fact Louise and her spreadsheets and trusty clipboard are well known! Most of our authors, and our venues are already booked. We are ready to go but just need a little help to get us started.
What else you might want to know
We will be working with schools and libraries to ensure that children who may not normally be able to afford to access author events have the opportunity to do so. We are also committed to making as much of the festival as accessible as possible.