Market Rasen WordFest

Saturday 6 July 2024

Get ready for WordFest this summer with a great line-up of literature themed events throughout the day!

Spark your inner creative by sharing your stories and passions through language and words. Market Rasen Library will be open from 10am to 4pm and there will be a Bookshop Café at the Advocate Arms where you can browse a book, leave a review, sit and chill with a coffee in a quiet corner and meet like-minded book people. Ride the Ice Cream Line Vintage Book Bus to North Willingham ice-cream parlour.

There’s a full day of literary events planned, from author talks and history walks.

Take a look at what's on... more details are to be added so keep an eye on this page for regular updates.

Literature Village on the Market Place

10am to 4pm, Market Place, LN8 3HL

Find book related stalls, authors and other traders, children’s entertainment and more. Join us in the Book Barn (under the Auction Shed), from 10am to 1pm, where the Broadbent Theatre will have books, storytelling and fun for children. Children are invited to read their favourite story or poem, or their own writing, from the special Book Chair. Also joining us will be the Ally Pally Story Emporium with their fun and creative crafts, and Oskar will entertain with his magic accordion. There will also be a fabulous vintage carousel for children throughout the day.

Vintage Book Bus Rides - Ride the Ice Cream Line!

10am to 4pm, Leaving from the Market Place on the hour.

A vintage Lincolnshire Bus will be touring the town centre and travelling to North Willingham stopping at Wrights Ice Cream Parlour. Hop on for a free ride down Nostalgia Lane. Drop off points at the Old Police Station, Library car park. Bus leaves the Market Place on the hour from 10am until 3pm and will depart North Willingham ice cream parlour on the half hour, first departure 10.30 am, last departure 3.30 pm.

Programme Of Events

This is our programme of events so far. All events are free to attend, however we advise you to book in advance - further details will be available soon. Tickets will also be available on the day, for events with space still available, from the booking office in the Market Place

Written Word Talk with Caroline Foster

10am to 11am, Market Rasen Library, Mill Road, LN8 3BP

Local historian Caroline Foster will be reading from "A Moment in Time" which is a collection of written work by library users who were invited to record significant events and memories about life in Market Rasen. Light refreshments will be served.

Caroline Foster is an authority and well-known local historian, as well as published author. She generously gives her time to support local library users and visitors who want to know more about the past – both family and local history.

Ian Gouge - 'Crash'

10.45am to 11.45am, The Old Police Station and Courtroom, Dear Street, LN8 3BH

Ian Gouge in 2023 performed his poetic monologue Crash at the Ripon Theatre Festival (and which he hopes to reprise in Market Rasen in the autumn). In the Courthouse - possibly reading from the dock!

Please ensure to arrive in a timely manner to be seated. Entry will not be permitted once the performance has started. 

Heritage Walk and Talk – Wolds Women of Influence

11am to 12pm, meet at the Market Place

Discover the stories about influential women from Market Rasen’s past – women who ran businesses, set up schools. Learn about the Boucherett sisters who influenced national events during their eventful lifetimes. Join Dr Caroline Mogg, principal researcher of the Wolds Women of Influence heritage project. The walk will last approximately 45 minutes with time to hear more about the women who feature in the six stories on the town’s heritage trail.

Author Reading and Discussion

11.15am to 12.15pm, The Advocate Arms, Queen Street, LN8 3EH

Keith Rylands-Bolton will discuss nature writing in the context of his work. His published novel 'Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood' is in part a nature diary, the hero quotes extensively from Gilbert White, Dorothy Wordsworth, Edward Thomas, Roger Deakin.

Marvellous Makers Scrapbook

11am to 1.45pm, Market Rasen Library, Mill Road, LN8 3BP

An interactive and fun craft workshop which will launch this year’s ‘Marvellous Makers’ Summer Reading Challenge. Children are invited to collect their scrapbook and design and decorate the front cover, this will be a handy place to keep their summer diary, mementoes, dates and certificates.