Talking About Why Reading is Magic with Jasbinder Bilan and Kiran Millwood Hargrave (podcast) | From the Archive
Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
Author of Costa Book Award-winning Asha & the Spirit Bird Jasbinder Bilan and bestselling author of The Girl of Ink & Stars Kiran Millwood Hargrave are celebrated for their ability to combine poetic prose with page-turning storytelling that plunges the reader into the adventure full gusto.
Love Stories with Holly Bourne, William Sutcliffe and Tanya Byrne | From the Archive
Age guideline 13+
They say that love makes the world go round. It can make our hearts sing, but it can sometimes be confusing and sad. What does love really mean? Meet three incredible authors who each write about love beautifully in their relatable and page-turning YA books, and hear first-hand what love means to them.
PAST EVENT - Popcorn Bob with Maranke Rinck and Martijn van der Linden
Join this online event to enjoy Maranke Rinck reading from the hilarious stories and follow illustrator Martijn van der Linden who will teach you how to draw your own version of Popcorn Bob. Then you can have a go at creating and writing about your own corn kernel!
PAST EVENT - Changing the World, One Word at a Time with Kwame Alexander
Join bestselling author Kwame Alexander in conversation with Janet Smyth about his award-winning verse novels The Crossover, Booked and Rebound. Fast-paced novels that fuse sport and poetry to tell heartfelt stories about young people’s lives. Find out about how he adapted his books into a TV series for Disney+ and discover more about Kwame’s forthcoming new series The Door of No Return. An opportunity to hear from a brilliant US author whose work connects with young people everywhere.
PAST EVENT - My Mum is a Lioness with Swapna Haddow and Dapo Adeola
Join author Swapna Haddow and illustrator Dapo Adeola, the superstar creative duo behind the acclaimed My Dad is a Grizzly Bear, for a brilliantly funny, roar-tastic, interactive storytelling of MY MUM IS A LIONESS, a warm and loving tale celebrating mothers!
PAST EVENT - Happy Here with Dean Atta, Patrice Lawrence, Olivia Twist and Onyinye Iwu
Age guideline 7-11
BookTrust has teamed up with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) to produce Happy Here, a brilliant new anthology of stories from Black British authors and illustrators including Patrice Lawrence, Dean Atta, Olivia Twist and Onyinye Iwu.
What better way to finish the festival than with an event celebrating being happy!
PAST EVENT - The Power of Laughter with Frank Cottrell Boyce, Burhana Islam and Maz Evans, chaired by Jenny Pearson
Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
Funny books are great aren’t they?! We all love to be made to laugh out loud. But laughter is powerful and important too. Laughing at ourselves, seeing the humour in difficult situations, and finding joy at times when life is hard are all powerful.
Join these three joyful authors, who love to write books that make you laugh, as they chat about the power of laughter.
PAST EVENT - Love Stories with Holly Bourne, William Sutcliffe and Tanya Byrne
Age guideline 13+
They say that love makes the world go round. It can make our hearts sing, but it can sometimes be confusing and sad. What does love really mean? Meet three incredible authors who each write about love beautifully in their relatable and page-turning YA books, and hear first-hand what love means to them.
PAST EVENT - Fascinating Facts and Wondrous World Records with Jenny Pearson
Age guideline 7-11
Join Jenny Pearson to hear some mind-fizzing facts and get the intel on having fun with a record-breaking attempt of your own. Jenny loves a fascinating fact and a wondrous world record. So much so that both her books - The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates and The Incredible Record Smashers are packed with them - to the point where she almost did not write the funny story bit because she was so busy researching!
PAST EVENT - Poetry That Brings Us Joy with Michael Rosen
Age guideline 4-7
Legendary children’s author and poet Michael Rosen has a lifelong fascination with the riddling rhymes passed down through playground songs and bedtime stories. He’ll share some of his favourites with us, some familiar and some mischievous surprises.
PAST EVENT: Reading for the Joy of It with Two Laureates: Cressida Cowell and Jason Reynolds
Age guideline 11-13, 13+
Join not one, but two children’s laureates in an all-star international celebration of books and reading with the always brilliant Cressida Cowell from the UK and the superb Jason Reynolds from the USA!
PAST EVENT: The BIG Draw Off with Steven Lenton and Sophy Henn, hosted by Steven Butler
Age guideline 7-11
It's time for a head-to-head draw off with two fantastic Illustrators, Sophy Henn and Steven Lenton!
PAST EVENT: Icarus Was Ridiculous with Pamela Butchart
Age guideline 4-7, 7-11
Izzy loves all the stories the Ancient Greeks told. She can't wait to tell her friends about Icarus, who was a total numpty, and the Trojan Horse, which ended a war and wasn't even real!
PAST EVENT: Talking About Why Reading is Magic with Jasbinder Bilan and Kiran Millwood Hargrave (podcast)
Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
Author of Costa Book Award-winning Asha & the Spirit Bird Jasbinder Bilan and bestselling author of The Girl of Ink & Stars Kiran Millwood Hargrave are celebrated for their ability to combine poetic prose with page-turning storytelling that plunges the reader into the adventure full gusto.
PAST EVENT: Send Your Own Letters to Earth
Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
In the second half of this two-part event, the team behind Letters to the Earth are back, and now they want to help get those powerful letters out into the world.