Help keep Wimbledon BookFest running for 2020 and beyond for the community and schools! 

During these unprecedented times, Wimbledon BookFest, the not-for-profit arts and education charity behind the much loved BookFest festival, needs your urgent help!

Thank you to all supporters who have donated to their appeal. As many of you are aware the arts is really struggling as a sector. The guidance on reduced capacities on events makes it very difficult to cover costs. 

Any donation makes a huge difference. To find out more, and to make a donation, please visit: https://www.wimbledonbookfest.org/Sponsors/Donate.aspx

Earlier this year, Fiona Razvi, BookFest Festival Director, shared more about their situation and how you can support them in this letter.

Support London’s Leading Literary Festival – Please help us by DONATING today!!

Wimbledon BookFest is not-for-profit arts and education charity and depends on its supporters. Like many other arts organisations and festivals we are now deeply concerned about our future. Our costs, including our small team of dedicated staff, office and festival site set-up are upfront and throughout the year to produce the festival. We have scaled back our costs drastically but still need to raise funds to cover our overheads and running costs for 2020.

Approximately half of our income comes from ticket sales. The remainder comes from the support of sponsors, grants, friends and donations. These have all dried up and the arts is falling through the gaps on Government support (see Creative Industries Federation open letter).

The Festival started 14 years ago with events across Wimbledon partnering with other community organisations. With your support we have gone on to now be recognised as one of the UK’s leading literary festivals hosting more than 100 events with audiences of 25,000+ including 8,500 South London schoolchildren, every year.

So many of the leading names from the world of literature, arts, politics, sport & entertainment have wowed audiences over the years including Ian McEwan, AS Byatt, Emily Maitlis, Sebastian Faulks, Graham Norton, Maggie O’Farrell, Sir John Major, Simon Armitage, Salman Rushdie, Shane Warne, Trevor McDonald, Michael Morpurgo, George the Poet, Malorie Blackman, Ben Okri and the Wombles.

We hope to deliver Wimbledon BookFest in some form later this year, as well as continuing to deliver our year round education projects and writing competitions.

If you would like to help support the Wimbledon BookFest please donate today. No amount is too small in our endeavour to keep Wimbledon BookFest going for its community this year and beyond! We are very grateful.

With thanks

Fiona Razvi & the Wimbledon BookFest Team