Headline Sponsor
Every March, we host Oundle KidLit, a special week of author events for primary school children. Timed to coincide with World Book Day, we collaborate with local primary schools to offer children a range of fun events to foster an early love of literacy and books. If your school is taking part, you will receive details directly from them. Local home-schooled children can also attend - email us for tickets. We also run the free-to-enter Oundle KidLit Writing Competition - details below.
2026 Programme
Monday 2nd March - Friday 6th March
Each author will appear as follows on their designated day:
10am at Oundle Primary School
1.30pm at Laxton Junior School
Monday 2nd March
Hannah Peck
Year 2 & 3 students​
​
Hannah Peck is the author and illustrator of joyful adventures for children, such as the much-loved Kate on the Case series, shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards and the Alligator’s Mouth Award. She lives in London, where new story ideas tend to sneak up on her at all hours.
​
‘Junior crime fans have a treat in store following amateur detective and trainee journalist Kate and her mouse sidekick Rupert as they attempt to solve a mystery aboard an arctic express train.’ Waterstones, Best Paperbacks of 2021 for 5-8 Year Olds
​
‘Hannah Peck’s super-creative joy of a book has mystery, humour, brilliant illustrations and a veritable smorgasbord of puns and wordplay.’ Book Trust
​
The Headline Hoax:
‘There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing in this entertaining story.’ Primary Times
‘Peck moves into creative overdrive for this cleverly plotted sleuthing adventure.’ Lancashire Evening Post
​Tuesday 3rd March
Steven Vinacour
Year 5 students
Laugh-out-loud historical adventures from author Steven Vinacour who is a former radio presenter and also a stand-up comedian and prolific voice-over artist. He likes dogs, magic, going to the gym, eating and writing books about toilets. He can’t sing, plays football badly, his dancing abilities are questionable and he’s not very good at being an adult. Steven doesn’t take life seriously enough and probably should know better.
​
‘This popular series is full of toilet humour (to be fair, the author does apologise for that) and the kind of jokes children love, but it’s packed with historical facts too, including the quirky, memorable ones that really make history come alive!’ LoveReading4Kids
​
‘My 8 and 10 year old both read it and loved it. It was funny, entertaining and educational. It’s always a great sign when you see and hear your children laughing and guffawing while completely entranced in a book. Well done Steven! More please….’​
Wednesday 4th March
Teresa Heapy
Reception and Year 1 Students
Captivating and atmospheric stories, beautifully illustrated.
​
Teresa Heapy has written both fiction and non-fiction books for children, including more than 90 educational books to teach reading in schools.
​
Teresa’s newest picture book, The Heart of the Storm, is an exciting, fast-paced adventure with stunning illustrations, celebrating courage and the importance of helping each other.
‘A dramatic tale of a fox and a wolf caught in a storm, vividly captured in Read's bright collaged illustrations. This picture book is an exciting story of enemies-to-friends, told with evocative language for 5+ readers.’ The Bookseller
​
Loved to Bits ‘Heapy's beautiful, poignant and yet joyful playful rhyming text is brought to life by Katie Cleminson's stunning, bold, colour-washed illustrations which capture all the exuberance and warmth of the story.’ Lancashire Evening Post​​​
Thursday 5th March
Ross Welford
Year 6 Students
Award-winning page-turners from a master of storytelling. Ross was a magazine journalist and TV producer before becoming an author. Time Travelling With A Hamster was his first book, and was nominated for every major award in children's books, winning the Awesome Book Award in 2017. A new, standalone book has followed every year since, all achieving critical and popular acclaim, and frequently gaining best-seller status. Ross is firmly established as one of the UK's most popular and original voices in children's books.
​
Ross’s newest book, The Unlikely Diary of Prince Kal the Alien, is in a hilarious diary format – perfect for fans of Tom Gates and Loki.
‘Great fun.’ The Observer
​
Praise for Time Travelling with a Hamster:
​
'Intelligent, well-crafted and impressive.' The Sunday Times
'Touching, silly and exciting by turns, this thrilling little book is an inventive take on time travel for children. An unforgettable, madcap story from a bright talent in Children’s fiction.’ Waterstones​​​​
Friday 6th March
Jordan Glover
Year 4 Students
​
Time to kick off a new adventure with
Jordan Glover, who grew up with her nose perpetually lodged in a book and not much has changed as an adult! After completing her History Degree at The University of Edinburgh in 2014, Jordan trained as a teacher and taught Key Stage 2 before becoming a full-time writer. She now holds a Master's Degree with Distinction in Creative Writing from the Open University.
Jordan has co-authored The Wonder Team series with her cousin, England Lioness captain, Leah Williamson.
​
‘The Wonder Team series is not just for football fans!It is full of adventure and excitement and so much historical and geographical fun! It is a book series that all young people in Key Stage 2 should get stuck into!’ The Rebel Reading Society
​
‘Mysterious, adventurous and dramatic’ The Week Junior
​
‘These fast-paced, fun-filled stories are written straight from the heart, and explore themes of teamwork, friendship, resilience, leadership and problem-solving, and aim to introduce young readers to inspiring and fascinating women from history. Don’t miss kick-off!’ Lancashire Post​​​​​​​​
Oundle KidLit Writing Competition 2026 details to be announced.
Here's what happened in 2025...
We received an array of fabulous entries for this year's annual Oundle KidLit Writing Competition around a theme of 'The Earth'. You entered stories and poems. There were adventures, fantasy stories and ecological themes. You gave us aliens, fairies, mythical creatures and endangered animals. You took us from outer space to arid deserts, steamy jungles to the chilly Arctic, and from dark caves to the depths of the ocean. You made judging very difficult for us, and we loved reading every one of your entries. Congratulations to each and every one of you who entered!
Watch the Winners Announcement video below.
Some of the feedback from our wonderful winners:
​
'C was so pleased when she watched the video this evening and found out she was a runner up! She was talking about story ideas before bed so can’t wait to see what she creates next! We are so fortunate to have Oundle Festival of Literature and all of the volunteers who make it all happen. Many thanks, H.'
'M is delighted, thank you!'
'Oh my goodness this has made my day, R will be ecstatic!! Thank you 😊H'
'Thank you all for running this competition. Young C will be so happy. Kind Regards S'​​​​​
Some of the feedback from our wonderful winners:
'I just wanted to say thank you so much for the lovely prize bag that you sent for X. He was absolutely thrilled to win a prize. X has had quite a tough few months, because he had to have surgery. After the surgery he wasn’t able to run, jump, swim, do PE etc for a while and he found that really hard. Writing and typing up the poem gave him something creative and positive to focus on. The surgery and everything around it definitely knocked his confidence a bit, but winning the prize for his poem has given him a huge boost and we’re so grateful for that. So thank you very much once again. Very best.'
