A Town Explores A Book - A Town Explores A Book

Automata Making in 2024 with Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

We are delighted to partner with Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in 2024 to offer automata-making workshops to primary school aged children as one of the ‘8 Ways to Connect’ schools engagement offer.

An exciting New Rail Heritage Project as part of the ATEAB 2024 Festival

The festival team is delighted to announce that Southeastern Communities Rail partnership CIC will become one of two major project partners in the 2024 festival exploring book choice The Railway Children by E Nesbit.

Creative Writing Competition prize winners announced!

Discover which 12 young writers are prize winners this year, with competition judges Yasmin Aishah and Maya Coombs reading the shortlisted entries

Schools festival bunting designs brought to life!

We invited schools to create their own bunting designs inspired by this year’s book. Explore this animated showcase of pupils’ work…

Schools Bunting Gallery

School Bunting Gallery COMING SOON This space will be updated to display all the artwork produced by young artists participating in our bunting activity inspired by Wonderful Adventures of Mrs […]

“Confidence in my own powers” – Festival Opening Event

Join us at Christ Church, St Leonards, for the launch of A Town Explores A book 2023! An evening of live music and conversation led by our early-career artist team

Secondary school students write songs inspired by Mary Seacole

Artists Ruby Colley and Hannah Collisson have been working with students at local secondary schools to write new songs on the theme of adventure

Festival activities for families this Spring holiday

A Town Explores A Book runs throughout the Spring school holiday. Here is a round-up of family activities during the festival!

Outdoor Art Trail

Explore the art trail to explore the book! The outdoor art in the open spaces of St Leonards-on-Sea invites you outside for multiple visits to consider what this heritage book means to you

Shop Window Displays

The independent businesses in the town offer their perspectives on Mary Seacole’s book in a trail of window displays…

Workshop: Make a porcelain boat

Make a boat in porcelain to hang in your home with Liz Emtage of Pelham’s, in Kings Road. The workshops run over two afternoons

Bohemia Creative Quarter Sunday

Pick up your hand-made festival passport and explore the creative businesses in Bohemia Creative Quarter, complete with activities and live music…

Breakfast & Read Aloud at The Clifton Centre

A free family event at The Clifton Centre bringing Mary Seacole’s words to life

“Longing to travel” – Active Arts Community Exhibition

An exhibition of work by the Active Arts community at The Clifton Centre, inspired by their exploration of the life of Mary Seacole

Challenges in Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands – exhibition by Zoom Arts

Zoom Arts collective explore the theme of challenge in Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands.

Unmasked and Stripped Bare – exhibition by Yasmin Aishah and Ruby Colley

Two sound installations at Hattons Yard by artists Yasmin Aishah and Ruby Colley.

Seaview’s Masks – community exhibition at Seaview

An exhibition by the Seaview community exploring Mary Seacole’s writing through masks

Kings Road Street Party

Fun for all the family this Easter Sunday, 11am-3pm on Kings Road, St Leonards, feat. dog show, family workshops, games, live music & poetry stage. Don’t miss it!

Family Print Workshop at Little Mashers

A drop-in family print workshop at Little Mashers, inspired by the themes in Mary Seacole’s book.

Home Front – Exhibition by Jude Montague

Exploring news reportage and images from the first Crimean War. How did people feel about what was going on far away – how connected did they feel?

The British Hotel – Exhibition by Black Butterfly

An immersive installation by Black Butterfly reimagining The British Hotel, the provisions store, canteen, and medical centre set up by Mary Seacole to serve soldiers in the Crimea

“Sharp edge of our grief” – film, live music & conversation

Two artist teams take Mary Seacole’s book on a creative journey. Join us for a film screening, live music, conversation and food inspired by Mary Seacole’s catering…

Four Courts Festival Weekend

Join us at Four Courts Wellbeing Hub on the final weekend of the festival for live music, exhibitions, food and community!

Innovation: A diverse early-career artist team leads the festival

A Town Explores A Book festival centres the voices of those who have experienced barriers to accessing heritage literature in traditional educational settings

Join it Up: applied arts supporting reading and writing in the quest for fun

One of the school engagement projects this March has been a brush stroke exploration. Water colourist Susan Miller has been working with 200 school children exploring Mary Seacole’s adventures through the adventure of putting brush to paper

Creative writing competition deadline extended!

School communities have asked for an extension to this year’s creative writing competition for 5-14 year olds in order to set this activity as a holiday project! The new deadline is 28 April

Design your bunting! Schools festival artwork inspired by Mary Seacole

#ATownExploresABook23 is inviting schools to create artwork inspired by this year’s book, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole, which we will print and display as bunting during the festival. Submit by 22 March!

Planning Underway for April Community Events

A Town Explores A Book is all about community, and planning is already underway for two big events in April that come under the festival banner, and will bring together lots of independent local businesses.

Press Kit

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Earthed

14–18 April 2022: Earthed An experiential theatre performance: a promenade theatre performance exploring two women’s magical childhood hideouts. Running over the final Easter weekend, Thursday 14–Monday 18 April, performers Yasmin […]

The Diddakoi Zine

The Diddakoi Zine The festival mentee team include artists of Romany and mixed race heritage. Their zine, created by Esme Fisher and supported through Artist Digital fringe funding that Esme […]

1–18 April: disPLACED exhibition

1–18 April: disPLACED exhibition Southwater Area Community Centre,1 and 2 Stainsby Street TN37 6LA,Entrance on the railway side of the building, free. Curator Nick Hill has steered a focus on […]

#ATEAB23 Crowdfunder a Great Success Raising Over £7,000!

The festival community showed up and and showed overwhelming support for #ATownExploresABook23 and our aim to offer creative workshops and activities to thousands of school-age children. As the Crowdfunder closed on 25th October, our total had reached £7,607.