Big Story Festival at IWM London

The Imperial War Museum’s first Big Story Festival takes two days of half term and turns them over to stories, built around its Childhood in War exhibition, the first in the UK about what conflict does to young people. The building is free to walk into and most of the festival is too: a family hub for making storyboards and wooden spoon puppets, a big colouring wall, a sing along of 1940s songs with Tom Carradine, and drawing sessions with the illustrator Will Hughes for eights and over.

What costs money

A short list of sessions is ticketed: author talks such as Judith Eagle on The Blitz Sisters at £10, a comic workshop for over elevens with Sarah Gavron and Sophie Herxheimer at £15, and £10 guided tours of the galleries. Wristbands for the sing along are handed out at the admissions desk on the day, and under 14s need an adult with them throughout.

Checked against IWM’s own festival page on 21 October 2026.

Nearby

Elephant and Castle has the nearest stations and everything else on in the same part of town. Filed under Free.