A thank-you for your book festival volunteers: a photo from the festival as a jigsaw, with your note at the end

Published on October 19, 2026

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any book, literary or writers' festival, Hay Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Library of Congress National Book Festival, Sydney Writers' Festival or any other festival, any publisher, author, bookshop, library, school, venue, sponsor or charity. Nothing here is legal, safeguarding, copyright or privacy advice. Check your own festival's guidance on gifts, photos, authors, children and volunteers' details.

It's twenty past eight on a Saturday morning in October, and the market square of a small town is still mostly closed. Outside the town hall, a woman called Ruth, who has organised the book festival in her spare time for seven years, is taping a laminated sign to a lamppost: "Festival box office this way". She has a lanyard, a clipboard, two phones and a printed spreadsheet of forty-one events across three days. Inside, a retired bus driver called Ken is setting out a hundred and twenty chairs in the main hall, in rows of twelve, with a reserved row at the front marked with folded paper. A sixth-former called Amira is unpacking a box of water jugs for the stage.

At ten, the first author arrives at the station. A volunteer called Pat, who has been the festival's unofficial taxi for five years, is waiting on the platform with a hand-written name card and a car that has been specially hoovered. By eleven the first event has started: a local historian talking about the town's lost railway, chaired by a librarian who has read the book twice and written her questions on index cards. In the green room, which is really the mayor's parlour with a kettle in it, two volunteers are making tea for a novelist who has driven up from London and a children's illustrator who is drawing on a napkin.

By Sunday evening, three thousand people have come through the doors. Two hundred schoolchildren have met an author on Friday. Nine hundred books have been signed. The bookshop has sold out of one title completely. At seven o'clock, Ruth sits down for the first time in three days, on a stacked pile of chairs, with a cup of tea someone has handed her.

If you've ever been to a book festival, a literary festival or a writers' festival, from a big international one to a one-day event in a library, you'll know how much of it rests on volunteers. This guide is about saying thank you to them: in words first, and, if it fits, with a small extra: a photo from the festival turned into a private digital jigsaw, with your note at the end.

Who we mean

Most book festivals, even large ones, depend on volunteers, and many small ones are run entirely by them. Depending on the festival, the people you might want to thank include:

the organisers or festival committee, who plan the programme, invite the authors, book the venues, raise the money and keep going all year;
event stewards and ushers, who check tickets, show people to their seats, help with accessibility and count the room for safety;
box office volunteers, who sell tickets, answer questions and handle the queue when an event sells out;
event chairs and hosts, who read the books, prepare the questions and keep the conversation flowing on stage;
green room volunteers, who look after authors before and after events, find the water, the phone charger and the quiet corner;
drivers who collect authors from stations and airports, and local hosts who put authors up in their spare rooms;
signing volunteers, who manage the queue after an event, open books at the title page and write names on sticky notes so the author spells them right;
schools and young people's programme volunteers, who organise visits, chaperone groups and run children's events;
tech and sound volunteers, who sort microphones, slides and live streams;
the people behind the scenes: the treasurer, the grant writer, the social media volunteer, the person who designs the programme;
the families of all of the above, who have lost their kitchen table to programme proofs for a month.

The words matter most

Before anything else: the thank-you that matters most is a sentence that shows you noticed. Book festival volunteers spend their weekends making sure other people have a good time, often while missing the very events they'd most like to see. They love words. They'll notice yours.

Some things worth saying:

the moment you remember: "when you found a chair at the end of the row for my mum, with her stick, before I'd even asked";
the event they made possible: "my daughter met the author of her favourite book, and she hasn't stopped writing since";
the problem they solved: "the microphone died two minutes in, and you had a new one on stage before anyone minded";
the welcome: "you said hello to me in the queue every year, and this year you remembered my name";
the effort you saw: "I know you read all six books on that panel before you chaired it";
the long view: "ten years of festivals, in a town that didn't have one before".

If you're not a volunteer yourself, say what the festival meant to you. If you are, say what the person beside you did that nobody else saw.

Who might send one

A thank-you like this can come from:

a festival-goer thanking the organisers after the weekend;
a first-time volunteer thanking the person who trained them and showed them the ropes;
the committee thanking the whole volunteer team, or a long-serving volunteer;
an author thanking the green room volunteer, the driver or the host who put them up;
a teacher or parent thanking the schools programme volunteers;
a bookshop or library thanking the festival for the readers it brought in;
a family member thanking the festival for what it gives someone they love;
a volunteer thanking their own family for the weekends, the lifts and the kitchen table.

Gifts, festivals and good manners

Most book festivals are friendly and informal, and a thank-you rarely needs rules. A few things are still worth thinking about:

Keep it modest. Festivals run on goodwill and tight budgets. An expensive gift to one volunteer can make others feel awkward. A card, a note or a small gesture from several people is usually better.
Thank the team, not just the face. Festivals are group efforts. If you thank the organiser everyone sees, consider mentioning the stewards, the box office and the kitchen too.
Charity money. Many festivals are charities. If you'd like to give more, a donation to the festival, or to its schools programme, is often more welcome than a personal gift. Organisers shouldn't use festival funds for personal gifts without the committee's agreement.
Authors are guests. If you're an author thanking volunteers, a signed book for the volunteers' room or a short note to the organisers is lovely. If you're a volunteer, avoid asking authors for favours, photos or extra signings beyond what the festival allows.
Children and safeguarding. Schools events and children's activities come with rules. Follow the festival's and the school's photo and safeguarding policies, and never share children's faces without the right consent.
Books and covers. Book covers are artwork, owned by their creators and publishers. A photo of a stack of books on a signing table is fine for a personal thank-you, but avoid using a single cover, or an author's photo, as the main image of a puzzle you send around.

When to send it

Some good moments:

the week after the festival, when the signs are down and the volunteers are tired;
after an event that went especially well, or one that nearly went wrong and didn't;
at the volunteers' party or thank-you evening, if the festival has one;
when a volunteer steps down from a role they've held for years;
on a festival anniversary: fifth, tenth, twenty-fifth;
when the next year's programme is announced, as a reminder of why it matters;
when an author you met at the festival publishes their next book;
in memory of a volunteer, if the family would welcome it.

Why a jigsaw can fit

A festival is built piece by piece: authors, venues, chairs, tickets, tea, signs, and dozens of volunteers each doing one small job. A book is built the same way, word by word. A photo puzzle echoes that in a small, playful way: the person rebuilds a moment from the festival, one piece at a time, and finds your note at the end, the way a reader finds the last line of a good book.

It's private, too. Festivals are public, busy and loud. A thank-you doesn't have to be. A puzzle is something a volunteer can open quietly, on their own, with a cup of tea, once the weekend is over.

If you're thanking the organiser

Small festivals often depend on one or two people who do almost everything: programming, fundraising, booking, publicity, volunteer rotas and, at the last minute, putting out chairs. Big festivals have paid staff, but they usually began with someone like that.

A photo of the festival sign in the town square, the empty main hall before the first event, or the programme on the kitchen table where it was planned, makes a lovely puzzle. A note might acknowledge what you didn't see: "Forty-one events, three days, and I know it took you all year."

If you're thanking a steward or usher

Stewards are the people festival-goers meet most. They check tickets, find seats, hold doors, count heads, help someone with a hearing loop, and politely stop people from filming. They often stand at the back of a room and hear half an event, if they're lucky.

A photo of the venue door with its "Event in progress" sign, the rows of chairs set out before the doors open, or the steward's table with its clicker counter and lanyards, works well. A note might say: "You found my mum a seat at the end of the row. I'll never forget it."

If you're thanking the box office

Box office volunteers handle the money, the queues, the sold-out events and the people who are sure they booked online. They're calm under pressure and know the programme better than anyone.

A photo of the box office table before it opens, the ticket printer, or the "Sold out" sign on a popular event (no names or booking details visible), makes a good puzzle. Leave cash, card machines and customer lists out of the frame.

If you're thanking an event chair

Chairing an event is hard work done in public. A good chair reads the book, sometimes several, prepares questions, keeps the conversation moving, watches the clock and makes sure the audience gets to ask theirs. At small festivals they're usually volunteers: librarians, teachers, booksellers, local writers.

A photo of the stage with two empty chairs and a jug of water, or the chair's index cards with questions in their handwriting (if they'd find it funny), works well. Mention a question they asked that you thought was brilliant.

If you're thanking the green room team

Green room volunteers are the festival's hosts. They greet authors, make the tea, find the quiet corner for the nervous ones, keep track of who needs to be where, and make sure nobody goes on stage with a coffee stain. Authors often remember them more than anyone.

If you're an author, a thank-you from you, with a photo of the green room table, the kettle or the view from the window, can mean a great deal. Keep other authors and their belongings out of the frame.

If you're thanking a driver or host

Authors arrive by train, plane and occasionally bus, often late and often tired. The volunteers who meet them, drive them, and sometimes put them up overnight make the festival possible for writers who couldn't otherwise come.

A photo of the station platform, the welcome sign, or the view of the town from the car window, works well for a driver. For a host who gave an author their spare room, a thank-you from the author, with a photo of the breakfast table or the garden (with no house number in sight), is a kind gesture.

If you're thanking the signing queue volunteers

After a popular event, the signing queue can stretch out of the door. Volunteers keep it moving, open books at the right page, write names on sticky notes and make sure the author gets a glass of water and a break. It's a job that's invisible when it goes well.

A photo of the signing table with its pile of books, pens and sticky notes, taken before the author sits down, makes a fun puzzle. A note might say: "Nine hundred sticky notes. Not one name spelled wrong."

If you're thanking the festival bookshop volunteers

Many festivals run a pop-up bookshop, often with a local independent bookseller, staffed partly by volunteers. They unpack boxes at seven in the morning, restock between events, find the one copy a reader wants and pack everything away on Sunday night.

A photo of the bookshop tables laid out before opening, all those spines in rows, makes a colourful and satisfying puzzle. A note might say: "You found me the last copy. Thank you."

If you're thanking the schools programme

Schools days are often the part of a festival that matters most and is seen least. Volunteers organise visits, chaperone groups, run workshops and make sure every child meets an author, some for the first time. For many children, it's the first time they realise books are written by real people.

If you're a teacher or parent, a photo of the hall set up for a schools event, a drawing a child made afterwards (with no name), or a stack of books for the school library, works well. Follow the school's photo policy and keep children's faces and names out of it.

If you live with a festival volunteer

If your partner or parent runs a book festival, volunteers as a steward or chairs events, you'll know how many evenings and weekends it takes. A thank-you from you, with a photo of the programme proofs on the kitchen table, the stack of books they had to read, or their lanyard on the hook by the door, can be funny and touching at once.

When a long-serving volunteer steps down

Many festivals have volunteers who have been there since the first year. When they step back, it's a good moment for a bigger thank-you.

Gather photos from over the years, choose one that sums them up, and invite volunteers and authors to write a short line each. For a very long service, a 252-piece puzzle of the festival site gives them something to take their time over.

In memory of a volunteer

When a long-serving volunteer dies, a festival often wants to do something for the family. A photo of the venue, the box office they ran, or their favourite spot in the green room, with a short note from the festival, is one gentle way to share what they meant. Ask the family first, turn off the leaderboard and keep the tone simple.

For festivals elsewhere

The same ideas work for:

literary festivals in the UK and Ireland, from the big international ones to one-day events in a library or a village hall;
book festivals in the United States and Canada, including city book fairs and library festivals;
writers' festivals in Australia and New Zealand;
children's book festivals and young people's reading festivals;
poetry festivals, crime fiction weekends and comics festivals;
university and school literary weeks.

Good photos for a book festival thank-you include:

the festival sign or banner in the town square;
the main hall or marquee before the doors open, chairs in rows;
the stage with two chairs, a jug of water and a microphone;
the signing table with a pile of books and a jar of pens;
the box office or welcome desk before it opens;
the green room tea table;
the festival bookshop with its tables laid out;
the lanyards on their hooks at the end of the weekend.

Keep out of the frame:

festival-goers who haven't agreed to be in the photo;
children's faces and names;
authors, unless they've agreed and the festival allows it;
volunteers' names, phone numbers, rotas and contact lists;
ticket details, card machines and anything with booking information;
anything that might embarrass someone, such as the event where the author didn't turn up.

If the photo has people in it, ask them first. A photo with no people at all, just the room, the stage or the books, is often the easiest and best choice anyway.

Getting the JPG right

Puzzlify works from a JPG. A few practical tips:

a phone photo is fine; use the original file rather than a screenshot if you can;
crop to the part that matters, the stage, the sign or the signing table, before you upload;
landscape photos usually make the most comfortable puzzles on a phone turned sideways;
bright, clear photos with different colours are easier and more satisfying to solve than dark or very plain ones; a festival bookshop with lots of spines is ideal;
marquees and halls can be dim, so take the photo near a window, or outside on a bright morning;
remove anything private before you upload, even if it's small: a name on a lanyard, a phone number on a rota.

Privacy, an optional PIN, and saying it's from you

The puzzle is private: it's shared as a link, not posted on a public board. You can add an optional PIN so only someone who knows it can open it, which is useful if you're sending it through a volunteers' group chat or a shared email list. Photos are not used to train AI and are not shared with third parties. Even so, treat the photo as if it might be forwarded.

Some people are wary of unexpected links, and rightly so. Say who it's from and what it is in the message itself: "This is a little jigsaw of the festival, with a note at the end. It's from me, and it's safe to open."

How many pieces?

Pieces	Feels like	Typical time
24	a short reading	a few minutes
48	a single event	around 5–10 minutes
80	an afternoon of events	around 10–20 minutes
130	a whole festival day	around 20–40 minutes
252	ten years of festivals	an hour or more

If you're not sure, 48 or 80 pieces suits most people on a phone.

The leaderboard: only for a group

If you're sending the puzzle to the whole volunteer team, the optional leaderboard can add some light competition. Ask first, and turn it off for anything personal or in memory.

A few note ideas

"To Ruth: forty-one events, three days, one cup of tea. Thank you for the festival."
"To Ken: a hundred and twenty chairs out and back, every year. We noticed. Thank you."
"To Pat: thank you for meeting me off the train, and for the hoovered car. I felt very welcome."
"To the schools team, from Class 4: our author visit was the best day of term. Thank you."
"To the green room volunteers: you found me a quiet corner when I was nervous. Thank you."
"To Mum, on ten years of the festival: you brought books to a town that didn't have a bookshop. Thank you."

(Change the names, and keep anything personal out of a puzzle that may be shared.)

How to make one (about a minute of setup)

Open Puzzlify's puzzle maker in a browser: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/
Upload a JPG from the festival.
Pick a piece count.
Write your note; it appears when the last piece goes in.
Add a PIN if you'd like, and choose whether to show a leaderboard.
Preview it for free. Publish only when you're happy.
Send the link by message or email, print it as a QR code in a card, or hand it over at the volunteers' party.

Honest pricing and notes

Making and previewing a puzzle is free. You only pay when you publish the link to send it: one credit is EUR 3.99, three credits are EUR 8.99, and Plus is EUR 14.99 a year for ten credits, which can make sense if a festival wants to thank several volunteers. The person you send it to doesn't need an account or an app; they just open the link in a browser.

This is a digital jigsaw you play on a screen. It isn't a cardboard puzzle in the post or a printed product, and it isn't connected to any festival, publisher, bookshop or author. It's also not puzzlify.io (a chess site), Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify.

Ideas that are not a puzzle

Honestly, some of the best thank-yous for book festival volunteers are free:

a handwritten card, left at the box office or posted after the weekend;
signing up to volunteer next year, even for one shift;
buying a book from the festival bookshop or your local independent shop;
bringing a friend, a neighbour or a young person to next year's festival;
writing a short, kind review of the festival, if the volunteers are happy with it;
telling the festival's funders or the local paper what the volunteers did;
for a long-serving volunteer, a small book of messages from volunteers and authors.

If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose a photo of the stage, the sign or the signing table, keep faces, names and anyone who hasn't agreed out of the frame, pick a piece count and add your note. You only pay if you decide to send it. You can start a free preview at https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the person who taped the sign to the lamppost, put out the chairs, met the train, made the tea and wrote nine hundred names on sticky notes, so that next October, the doors would open again.

Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, safeguarding, copyright or privacy advice. Check your own festival's guidance on gifts, photos, authors, children and volunteers' details.