Literary Festival, Bermondsey and Beyond

Come and Enjoy the Bermondsey and Beyond Literary Festival 2025 – all events are free to attend! 

Live Events

• Thursday 6 March – celebrate World Book Day with storytelling for Nursery age children at Appleby Blue Almshouses, 94-116, Southwark Park Road, SE16 3RR – time to be confirmed.
• Saturday 8 March – ‘The Bermondsey Murder’ – an illustrated talk about the shocking ‘Manning Murder’ by noted crime historian Dr. Angela Buckley at Blue Anchor Library, 7, Market Place, SE16 3UQ.  Meet at 1.30pm for a 2pm start.  ‘If you love true crime and love history, this is the perfect choice for you. Very well written with plenty of references to explore, this is a wonderful addition to anyone’s true crime library’ – Net Galley
• Sunday 9 March – ‘Down The Blue’ – an informal and friendly guided walk looking back in time at Bermondsey’s famous road, led by Debra Gosling, local historian and artist. Meet at Market Place, SE16 3UQ 2pm.
• Monday 10 March – ‘Dear Tommy: ’ – a talk by writer and filmmaker Michael Holland about Bermondsey and Rotherhithe in the Golden Age of Postcards.  7pm at Appleby Blue Almshouses, 94-116, Southwark Park Road, SE16 3RR. ‘This beautiful book…allows us a precious and intimate glimpse into the 6x4 inch amber that postcards must surely be…’ – Ed Gray
• Wednesday 12 March – an open mic poetry session at Morocco Bound Bookshop, 1A, Morocco Street, SE1 3HB.
• Friday 14 March - Rotherhithe Voices – an open mic evening of spoken word, song, and music, centred around this month’s theme ‘The Thames’. Launched in 2015, Rotherhithe Voices is hosted by Alison Clayburn, a local creative writing tutor, and offers an inclusive, welcoming platform for both seasoned and new voices in the community. 6-9pm at Deli Felice, 40, Albion Street, SE16 7JQ.
• Saturday 15 March - visit the unique volunteer run Peek Frean Museum for a cup of something and a talk by Gary Magold. ‘Biscuit Box 1925-1975. A glimpse of the Peek Frean staff magazine.’ 1pm - meet at Gate 1, 100, Drummond Road, SE16 4DG. ‘Peek Freans Museum, is a treasure trove of biscuit heritage. Colourfully decorated tins glitter in cabinets. There are old advertisements, images of employees in flour-caked aprons, special Twiglet-cutting blades — even antique biscuits still in their packaging, decades past their best-before. Holding court in the centre of the room is a replica of a wedding cake gifted by Peek Freans to the then-Princess Elizabeth, when she married in 1947. A towering Haversham-esque thing, it even features iced battleships — a nod to her husband's naval links.’ Will Noble, The Londonist.
• Saturday 15 March - Kids workshop! Bookmaking. Come along at The Blue Market for a free workshop from 13. Market Pl, London SE16 3UQ
• Sunday 16 March - Festival Finale at Canada Water Library, Room 3, 21, Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7AR from 1.30-3.30pm. Presentation of prizes in our 16+ poetry competition and a talk by Sarah Bax Horton on her book ‘Arm of Eve. Investigating the Thames Torso Murders’. Jack the Ripper is often called the world’s most notorious unidentified killer, but he was not the first modern serial killer on the streets of London. Before him was another murderer who hunted from the River Thames – one arguably more sadistic and mercurial. The Thames Torso Killer has always lurked in the Ripper’s shadow, despite the fact he murdered and dismembered at least four people over two years. He started to kill in 1887, over a year before the Ripper, and his last murder was in 1889, almost ten months after the death of Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper’s last victim. In Arm of Eve, Sarah Bax Horton conducts her own investigation and uses modern criminal profiling to come up with her own suspect – a known criminal who knew the Thames like the back of his hand. There is a Bermondsey connection to this case!

Online

During and after the Festival creative work by children from local primary and secondary schools; 16+ poetry competition entries and an essay by Pat Kingwell ‘Writers and Southwark Park’, will be freely accessible online – insert web details.