This Code of Conduct applies to all participants in events organised by the Sevenoaks Literary Festival, whether participating as a committee member, author, partner, sponsor, volunteer, freelancer, or attendee.
The Sevenoaks Literary Festival acknowledges its duty of care to all participants and values their safety and well-being. We will act swiftly and responsibly to safeguard against any behaviour we deem to be in violation of this Code of Conduct and reserve the right to remove anyone who we feel violates this code, both online and in person in our spaces.
We expect all participants in our events to adhere to the principles below:
- To create a safe and welcoming environment for all participants and visitors.
- To conduct all interactions associated with our events with respect, openness and courtesy.
- To respect the privacy of participants and any sensitive, personal information that may be entrusted with us, including those signed up to our mailing lists.
- To communicate, engage with, and listen to all members of the community in a respectful manner.
- To act responsibly, both on and offline, and to respect any boundaries put in place by participants.
We will not tolerate:
- Hate speech, inflammatory or discriminatory language and behaviour of any kind, both on and offline.
- Offensive comments relating to race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, class, or any other comments made in order to denigrate or discriminate against a person’s background or lifestyle.
- Any harassment or intimidation, both on or offline, including unwelcome sexual attention, or the sharing of any sexually explicit materials.
- Knowingly or maliciously making an untrue allegation (eg: in order to cause disruption within SLF or to harm another individual).
- Any behaviour we deem to be physically, sexually, or mentally inappropriate or threatening
We respectfully request that all participants in our events adhere to this Code of Conduct, and we reserve the right to ask persons associated with us to desist in any harmful behaviours that are brought to our attention. Failure to do so may result in expulsion from our events and/or severance of any agreement between us.
This policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in the way the Festival operates but will in any event be reviewed annually by the committee.
21 January 2026