We are dependent on funding so that we can keep it free and accessible to everyone - and we need your survey responses! If you watched any of our events, please fill out a survey and your opinions will help fund and shape future festivals:
For Schools: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RiMFSchools23
For Families/Home viewers: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RiMFfamily2023
Age Guideline 7-11
About the Event
Join Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and brilliant new talent J.T. Williams for this special ‘Bookmaker Like You’ event. J.T. Williams will be telling us all about her Lizzie and Belle Mystery series, fantastic adventures that feature characters inspired by hidden Black British history. They’ll chat about the journey to being an author and what it takes to bring a story to life as well as sharing some top tips for writing your own stories, showing you that you can be a Bookmaker too!
The Bookmaker Like You project celebrates the extraordinary variety of new and exciting talent we have in the UK, introducing children to as wide a selection of bookmakers as possible and diversifying bookshelves so that every single child can imagine themselves as a storyteller with a voice to be heard.
About the Authors
Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho is an award-winning performance poet, playwright and children's author based in Kent. His debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules (Frances Lincoln, 2014)was the winner of the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2015. His work has poetry and performance at its heart, drawing on over 20 years' experience running dynamic creative literacy sessions in schools. He aims to inspire young people through stories and characters they can recognise and explores themes including fear, courage, diversity, gratitude, empathy and loss. In addition to exploring emotional landscapes, Coelho is inspired by magic, the ancient world and often draws on his own experiences transforming them into something universal that can be shared. Throughout his career he has highlighted the power of poetry and reading, championing and campaigning for local libraries and spotlights new voices and diversity throughout his work.
Coelho writes for children of all ages; his picture books include the critically acclaimed Luna Loves... series illustrated by Fiona Lumbers (Andersen Press) and If All the World Were... illustrated by Allison Colpoys (Lincoln Children’s Books, 2018) which won the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2019. His Work across poetry includes the collection Overheard in a Tower Block (Otter-Barry Books, 2017), which was shortlisted for the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2018 and longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards2019 and The Girl Who Became a Tree (Otter-Barry Books, 2019), which was shortlisted for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Other work includes middle-grade series Fairytales Gone Bad illustrated by Freya Hartas (Walker, 2020) and YA Novel The Boy Lost in the Maze (Otter-Barry Books, 2022), as well as non-fiction titles including How To Write Poems illustrated by Matt Robertson (Bloomsbury, 2017) among others.
J.T. Williams studied English Literature at Cambridge University before becoming a primary school teacher. After teaching full-time, she became a programme manager at the Royal African Society leading creative writing schools workshops for the literature festival Africa Writes. Now a freelance educator and writer, she has won several prizes for her work.
Joanna is the author of The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger, a thrilling mystery adventure set on the streets of Georgian London featuring characters based on real life historical figures. She writes to shine a light on the Black British past and is passionate about inspiring the writers of the future
Teaching Resources
Download activity sheets from The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries here.
Buy the Book here:
About the Festival Partner
This event has been programmed by Bath Children’s Literature Festival
Bath Festivals is a charity that brings you the Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Europe’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival with a vibrant array of talks and activities for children. They are also responsible for The Bath Festival in the summer which bring the city alive with a celebration of music and books in the beautiful venues and spaces of the world heritage city. By creating innovative and diverse programmes, their festivals inspire and provide unique experiences for residents and visitors to Bath and surrounding areas. Their year-round creative learning programme of hands-on music and literature projects gives children and young people opportunities to gain real-world experience, building their inner confidence and improving communication skills through the arts.