BilliLit Book Festival is back for its third year
Saturday 16th May is our Super-Saturday, filled with authors, talks, book-signings and musical interludes.
You can buy a day pass for just £25 which gives you full access to every event or you can purchase tickets for an individual talk for £8.
Sunday is our workshop day and we have a range of different workshops for you to choose from. See below for details.
Workshop 1 with Eleanor Anstruther
MEMOIR
Writing the Story Your Body Knows
Sunday 17th May 2026 10am - 11.30am
The Women’s Hall, High Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9RE
Workshop outline:
Memoir is more than a collection of facts; it’s a conversation with the body made narrative, an opportunity for your body to tell the story of you. In this ninety minute workshop, you’ll be gently guided to step out of the mind’s noise and into the body’s knowing. We’ll explore how scenes and structure, narrative and plot emerge when we stop trying to write with our mind and instead let our body tell the story. This is writing as release, as revelation. You don’t need to know yet what your memoir is “about”, only that something inside of you is ready to speak.
Other information:
Participants will need to bring pen and paper / laptops.
The Women’s Hall will be open from 9.30am for refreshments.
Workshop cost £25
Buy your workshop ticket here.
Eleanor was born in London, educated at Westminster School and studied History of Art at Manchester University where she was distracted from finishing her degree by a trip to India. She was lost and found for the next twelve years, travelling the world before finally settling down to write. Her acclaimed debut novel, A Perfect Explanation, (Salt Books) was long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize. On Substack she publishes, The Literary Obsessive, where she serialises her work before taking it print, and runs the hugely successful interview series, Substack LIVE. Her memoir, A Memoir in 65 Postcards & The Recovery Diaries (Troubador Publishing) and latest novel In Judgement Of Others (Troubador Publishing) are available in print, digital and audio formats.
Workshop 2 with Daisy E White
CRIME FICTION
How to Write Bestselling Crime Fiction in 5 Simple Steps
Sunday 17th May 2026 11.40am - 1.10pm
The Women’s Hall, High Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9RE
Workshop outline:
Crime and thriller novels dominate the bestseller lists around the world. Drawing on her expertise in writing bestselling commercial crime fiction, Daisy will share her strategies for writing crime fiction in 5 simple steps.
Join this workshop if you love the idea of writing a crime or thriller novel and are looking for ways to get started, or you have an idea that’s just waiting to unfold.
The workshop includes:
Beginning to End - a few exercises to help you get started, power through, and finish strong.
What a hook is and why you need one for your book/series.
Advice on literary agents/publishers currently looking for crime fiction.
Other information:
Participants will need to bring pen and paper / laptops.
The Women’s Hall will be open from 11.30am for refreshments.
Workshop cost £25
Buy your workshop ticket here.
D.E. White writes bestselling commercial crime fiction. She writes dark, action-packed, twisty series and standalone novels, and is best known for her Detective Dove Milson series (Joffe Books).
Her next book is The Girl on Floor 29, a locked-room thriller published by Boldwood Books and out 26/06/26. This is also her 26th book!
She is represented by Hannah Weatherill at Watson and Little.
Workshop 3 with Lisa Brace
HISTORICAL FICTION
Writing about Historical Characters & Events
Sunday 17th May 2026 1.20pm - 2.50pm
The Women’s Hall, High Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9RE
Workshop outline:
Lisa Brace won ‘Best Historical Fiction Novel 2025’ in the Eyelands Book Awards, an international accolade, for her novel The Fastest Girl on Earth. The prize came hot on the heels of three historical award nominations for Swim, her previous historical novel.
During the course of her writing and reseach, Lisa has learnt a lot about the hows, whys and wherefores when it comes to writing 'hist fic' and she's excited to share her hard won knowledge in this 1.5 hour workshop.
Come along to explore how to tackle research and structure, and how to write your book without turning it into a history lesson.
Other information:
Participants will need to bring pen and paper / laptops.
The Women’s Hall will be open from 1.10pm for refreshments.
Workshop cost £25
Buy your workshop ticket here.
Lisa Brace has been writing professionally for over 20 years. She started as a journalist working on newspapers, evolving into feature and entertainment articles and now writes for Sussex Exclusive, as well as running her own PR & copywriting business.
Her award winning third novel The Fastest Girl on Earth, is out now as an eBook, paperback and audiobook, available here.
Her second book, SWIM, came out in June 2024 and has received three awards:
FINALIST 'BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL 2025' & 'BEST GENERAL FICTION NOVEL' Next Generation Indie Book Awards
FINALIST 'BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL 2024' Eyelands Awards
Her debut novel Star Survivor was published in March 2024. Lisa is currently immersed in 1950s USA, writing about makeup and strippers for her latest novel, Lipstick.
Workshop 4 with Liz Barnes & Ted Gooda
WRITING POETRY
Make a Poetic Leap
Sunday 17th May 2026 3pm - 4.30pm
The Women’s Hall, High Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9RE
Workshop outline:
In this 90‑minute workshop, participants will explore playful and inventive approaches to writing poetry. Through a series of varied and engaging exercises, we’ll experiment with the beautiful constraints of poetic form and discover how structure can spark creativity. Guided prompts and supportive discussion will help poets craft vivid imagery, unlock their imagination, and develop evocative new work. Suitable for beginners to Nobel Prize winners.
Other information:
Participants will need to bring pen and paper / laptops.
The Women’s Hall will be open from 2.50pm for refreshments.
Workshop cost £25
Buy your workshop ticket here.
Liz Barnes and Ted Gooda run the Foraging Pigs, a monthly open-mic poetry group in Billingshurst.
Liz Barnes has produced hundreds of poems focusing on emotional, deeply personal themes. Her work can be romantic and soothing, or hard hitting and thought-provoking. She has had two anthologies published by the Real Press: A little bit of pain and a whole lot of love and I swallowed the world.
Ted (Theresa) Gooda is a poet, playwright, and ghostwriter. Her work has been widely anthologised and her debut pamphlet Silence & Selvedge (2024) features a number of award-winning poems. Her 2025 verse play, Mannequim, debuted at the Brighton Fringe Festival and she ghostwrites a series of Sunday Times top-ten bestselling memoirs.
Workshop 5 with Rachael Sadler
SELF-PUBLISHING
Indie author workshop
Sunday 17th May 2026 4.40pm - 6pm
The Women’s Hall, High Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9RE
Workshop outline:
So you’ve written your dream book? How do you turn your manuscript into a professional published book? This invaluable step-by-step guide to self-publishing your book will offer tops tips on editing, formatting and cover design. It will help you understand the book publishing process and marketing, and show how to upload and sell your paperback on Amazon.
Other information:
Participants will need to bring pen and paper / laptops.
The Women’s Hall will be open from 4.30pm for refreshments.
Workshop cost £25
Buy your workshop ticket here.
Rachael Sadler, was brought up in Horsham in a home filled with loveable labradors.
Adulthood brought international travel and later as a single mum and in a home of many pets, she studied for a degree whilst running her successful business.
Her author pathway came to fruition as a way out of a depression and emptiness following the loss of her beloved labrador, Lottie. Her scrawled memoirs and journalled notes of her grief and subsequent journey in search of peace, turned into a poignant memoir. ‘Life After Lottie’ is one for any dog lover and has helped hundreds through the process of pet loss grief and those seeking a travel adventure in Asia.
Rachael writes from the heart, incorporating her love of animals with the amusing tales, trials and tribulations she’s weathered throughout her interesting life.