The Heath Bookshop Literature & Music Festival returns in Birmingham next month, complete with a packed programme of more than 30 events for all the family to enjoy.

The festival features contributions from numerous top-name writers and performers, including award-winning author Max Porter, writer & presenter Robin Ince, Birmingham favourite Joe Lycett, local novelists Mike Gayle and Catherine O’Flynn, musician Helen O’Hara, journalist Pete Paphides and former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce - to name but a few!

Run by The Heath Bookshop in partnership with fellow Kings Heath-located venues How Brave Is The Wren and the Hare & Hounds, the five-day festival aims to include activities and entertainment for everyone.

Organisers Catherine Gale and Claire Dawes, who opened The Heath Bookshop in September 2022, say the inaugural festival in 2024 was so successful they wanted to ensure this year’s programme was bigger and better.

“This year we’ve expanded the festival, and there should be something for everyone,” says Catherine. “We’re excited to have new commissions, and we’re also working with a lot of local writers who we’ve got to know well since opening the bookshop.”

One of the key events sees the performance of new dance work Grief Is The Thing With Feathers (Saturday 18 April), which has been adapted by Birmingham-based Beyond Words Dance Theatre from Max Porter’s bestselling book. Choreographed by local artist Helen Calcutt, the event will also feature a conversation with Max, chaired by Birmingham-born writer Caleb Klaces.

“Helen came to the bookshop with her poetry book three years ago and we had a discussion about Max Porter and how much we all love his work,” Catherine recalls. “She told us she was already working on a dance adaptation of Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, and she invited us to an early scratch performance.

“We’re really excited to now be able to include that work in the festival and bring Max to see the performance and discuss his book. It’s great to be able to feature that in this year’s programme.”

The team have also commissioned Voices In The Making: Stories That Shape Us, an event with Birmingham Poet Laureate Ayan Aden which aims to encourage young people to create their own work.

Taking place on Sunday 19 April, the event includes creative workshops in which students will explore identity and heritage. The final performance will feature poetry, storytelling and guest performers.
The festival also boasts a host of music events in partnership with the Hare & Hounds pub.

“I’m a music fan and I love the Hare & Hounds,” says Catherine. “It’s a really famous music venue, so working with them is really great. The music side of the festival is really important, as it’s so much a part of our culture. People who love books are often fans of music and go to gigs, so the two things go together really well.

“We can create so many crossovers. We have a gig in the bookshop with local musician Sol Guest, who will be doing a gorgeous acoustic set. And then there are gigs and literature events in the Hare & Hounds which are connected to music. So, for example, Helen O’Hara, who was a member of Dexys Midnight Runners and played the violin on the band’s Come On Eileen, is talking about her memoir What’s She Like with Pete Paphides at the Hare & Hounds on Sunday the 19th.

“And we have Mike Joyce from The Smiths talking with Catherine O’Flynn about his memoir The Drums and then doing a DJ set, both at the Hare & Hounds on the 18th.

“I met Mike last year when I was bookselling for him at The Glee Club, and I’m a mega Smiths fan. I was delighted to meet him. I asked him to come to the festival and he said yes. The Drums is a really great memoir, and then he’s doing the alternative 80s DJ set afterwards. The Hare & Hounds were really excited about having Mike, so we’ve worked out this great programme between us.”

Children’s bookshop and festival partner How Brave Is The Wren has created an exciting programme for families.

“We wanted the children’s programme to be fully integrated into the festival, and How Brave Is The Wren have put together some great events,” says Claire. “There’s a special event with music and narration of Michael Morpurgo’s Carnival Of The Animals poems. There’s a pre-festival workshop to create costumes and actions on Sunday the 12th and then a drop-in on Saturday the 18th to make masks, so it really is a big family event for all ages.”

The performance features Sennet Brass Quintet - in which Claire plays French horn - playing Saint-Saëns’ Carnival Of The Animals, joined by children in their costumes, with musical instruments which they’ve made.

For Catherine and Claire, the community element is key to the festival - both through supporting local artists and by bringing writers and performers to Birmingham - so the programme also includes local schools and Kings Heath Library.

“It’s so important to be working with local authors such as Catherine O’Flynn, Mike Gayle and Robin Ince, who have all written wonderful books,” says Claire. “As a bookshop we sell new books, but we also believe the library is so important. We always want to push the fact that we need to save our libraries, so we’re delighted to have the event Libraries Give Us Power with Liz Berry and Catherine O’Flynn. It’s a family and free event because we’re not trying to replace the library, we’re trying to add to the community.”

And to support the local community, Catherine and Claire are inviting people to join online for the sold-out Paint-a-long With Joe Lycett, profits from which will be split between Kings Heath Community Centre and Queens Heath Pride.

The team have received National Lottery Projects Grants funding through Arts Council England, which has helped them keep prices as low as possible, while many events are BSL-interpreted, with the aim of making the festival accessible to all.

“Price is very important,” says Claire. “We try to have as many free or low-price events as we can. Tickets went on sale at the end of January and we’ve had a really good response. It seems like people are really excited about it. They’re coming into the shop and talking about all the different events.”

Catherine and Claire won Independent Bookshop of the Year at the 2025 British Book Awards last May. They believe the increased national profile has encouraged people from further afield to visit the shop and the festival.

“There are a lot of local people who come to the festival, but we’re also finding that people are coming from further afield now,” Claire says. “And if you’re not local, we have so many events crammed in that you could stay in Birmingham, come to a whole load of events and discover Kings Heath and all the other great things here.”

The Heath Bookshop Literature & Music Festival runs at various venues in Kings Heath and Birmingham City Centre from Wednesday 15 to Sunday 19 April.

To check out the full programme and book tickets, visit theheathbookshop.co.uk. For any queries, make contact via email at hello@theheathbookshop.co.uk 

By Diane Parkes