FREE BOOKS FESTIVAL 2025
Free Books Festival returns for another year, and this year we’re celebrating our 5th Birthday!
Founded in 2020 the Free Books Campaign is a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gap in access to literature for all ages. We celebrate storytelling in all it’s forms, from theatre to TV, manga to gaming and more.
We envision a world in which there are no barriers - both financial and physical - to reading or storytelling, where it is not a privilege but a powerful form of imagination building, escapism and self-care for all.
This year’s festival takes place on the 17th August at Big Penny Social set across one jam-packed day of activities, workshops, panels and demonstrations - as well as loads of freebies including food, and of course, books!
For 5 years we’ve worked with publishers, community organisations, authors, schools, brands, you name it, to get books to people who can’t afford them for free across the UK & Ireland. That’s over 11,500 brand new books in new homes! As we turn 5, we’re taking our work to Dakar, Senegal.
In Senegal, just 58% of adults are literate, many children and families still have little or no access to books. We’re raising funds to build a free, community library that will offer more than just books — it will be a vibrant third space with free internet access, technology, and opportunities for learning, skill sharing and global knowledge exchange.
Therefore, this year we’re remixing how we ticket the Free Books Festival. We have created a donation-based ticketing system, where the cost of your ticket goes directly to the Free Books Library, Senegal. These costs include research, building, legal fees, resources and much much more! By supporting the festival, you’ll help increase literacy rates, open doors to education, and empower a new generation through free and equal access to information.
Tickets this year have a suggested min-max, so you can choose how much to donate in exchange for a ticket!
If you can’t afford a ticket but would still like to come, we’ve got you! Please email info@freebookscampaign.co.uk for a free ticket.
Accessibility is always our #1 priority, so please reach out with no questions asked!
To help us monitor our impact and continue operating as a non-profit organisation, it's essential that we collect data on the communities we support. Therefore, we really appreciate your time in completing a few questions upon checkout.
We’ll be releasing more of the line up in the coming weeks, so stay tuned here, or follow us on Instagram, X and Tiktok.
Thank you to our sponsors and partners: Warner Bros Discovery, Spotify, PEAK, The North Face, ED PR, THEM ONES, Black Eats LDN, Hotel Zamara and Pay It Back CiC.
Please note, we do not offer refunds.