Play on Words Festival

About

Founded by two friends in New Milton in 2018, Play on Words returns this autumn for its fourth year with a wide range of events for readers and writers in New Milton and for the first time expanding to Lymington and Totton. Highlights include the Book Lovers Lunch with Sunday Times bestseller Lucy Clarke at the Cliff House Restaurant; Words, Wine and Tapas with international wine judge and fiction writer Helen McGinn at New Milton Rugby Club and a smooth-tongued night of music and spoken word from the fabulous Tongue Fu at Forest Arts Centre.

There are plenty of participatory activities for children, families and adults especially during half term week including song writing, heritage and creative writing walks, comic creating and 'zine writing. Writers at all levels are catered for with writing for well-being, writing your own story and mother and baby journalling for beginners, right through to advice on marketing, applying for funding and how to self-publish. A Local Writer Showcase celebrates neighbourly talent from the forest and its fringes.

The festival is run by a steering group made up of local residents, writers and organisations including St Barbe, Forest Arts Centre, Culture in Common, the New Forest District Council, and the New Forest National Park Authority, coordinated by the Solent's literature development organisation ArtfulScribe, with other partners and supporters including Hampshire Cultural Trust, Artswork, MAST Mayflower Studios, Hampshire Libraries, Coda Music, the Imaginarium bookshop, Fluid Motion Theatre Company and Spud. This festival wouldn't be possible without support from Arts Council England.

For more information on events and activities, how to book, how to get involved in volunteering for the festival, or ways to share your writing, please visit the Play on Words website. We aim to include more events in different locations around the New Forest in future years and welcome your suggestions.