Margin Notes is a weekend literary festival run out of The Tattered Spine - our crooked little bookshop on Aldgate Row. Forty writers, one back room, a courtyard full of folding chairs, and far too much coffee.
Free for under-18s · All readings live, none recorded
Most happen in the back room or the courtyard. Bring a cushion; the folding chairs are honest but firm.
The festival opens the only way it knows how - one writer, one chair, a lamp, and the new novel everyone’s been pre-ordering. Doors at seven, wine from the kettle.
Reading & conversation · Ada OkonkwoCoffee, badges, the second-hand stall.
Free · drop inFive minutes, one chapter, no apologies.
Sign-up at the tillThe quiet, candle-lit half-hour to close the night.
All passesEight writers, three judges, a kitchen timer, and the loudest the shop gets all year. Stories under a thousand words, read against the clock. The winner takes home shelf space and a terrible trophy.
Hosted by Marcus VaneThree translators on the impossible job.
Sofia B-Reyes & guestsBring 300 words. Leave with fewer, better ones. Limited to twelve seats.
+£8 · pass holdersNine small presses, one long table.
Free · drop inWe end outside, weather permitting, otherwise wedged between the poetry and travel shelves. Six poets, the last of the light, and the festival’s only round of applause that runs long.
Curated by Imogen HaleOne paragraph, pastries, an hour to spare.
+£5 · includes coffeePicture books read properly, with all the voices.
Free · under-12sLeave one, take one. Lights out by six.
All welcomeIt’s a bookshop, not a conference centre. Read this and you’ll fit right in.
The blue door beside the laundrette. Five minutes from the Tube; we’ll have a chalkboard out and a queue of people clutching tote bags.
Readings are first-come. A weekend pass guarantees entry, not a chair - arrive ten minutes early for the headline events and you’ll be fine.
The stall, the press fair, the children’s hour and the open mic are all free and un-ticketed. Wander in, buy a book, stay as long as you like.
One flat weekend pass, or a single day. Both get you into every ticketed reading while seats last.
Everything ticketed, Friday night through Sunday’s last poem - plus the slow-reading breakfast and a 10% shop discount all weekend.
Any single day, every ticketed event on it. Choose your day at checkout.
Choose a dayPress fair, second-hand stall, open mic and children’s hour. Just turn up.
See free eventsOne letter a month from the shop - new authors as they’re confirmed, the full timetable, and first dibs on the limited workshop seats.
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