PRESENTER: The children’s book festival is coming up again soon and here to tell us all about it is the festival’s organiser, Jenny Morgan. So tell us what we can expect this year, Jenny.
JENNY: Well, as usual we’ve got five days of action-packed exciting events for children, with writers coming from all over the country getting involved.
Just to give you an idea of what’s on offer in the workshops, first of all, there’s a very special event called Superheroes. This is a chance for deaf children to share their reading experiences with author Madeleine Gordon, who is herself hearing impaired.
‘Just do it’ is a practical workshop led by the well-known illustrator Mark Keane. He’ll take participants on a magical journey to faraway lands with an opportunity for aspiring actors to do some role play.
‘Count on me’ is an inspiring and entertaining look at the issues of friendship for 13-14-year-olds. It looks at some of the friendships described in popular books and asks participants to compare these with their own experiences.
‘Speak up’ is part of a series of workshops on the subject of mental health. This is a creative writing workshop encouraging children to describe situations where young people experience loneliness. A recent survey revealed that children can be lonely even when they’re at home with their families.
‘Jump for joy’, as many of you will know, is the heart-warming, best-selling story by Nina Karan about a young girl’s trip to visit her relatives in India. It recently received the gold medal at the Waterford Awards. Nina will get children to celebrate the word ‘joy’ by writing a poem.
‘Sticks and stones’ is the beautifully illustrated picture book for young readers about a community who organise an African-Caribbean festival to help local children learn about their Jamaican roots. This will be a musical event where children will have the chance to play steel drums. This is bound to be very popular, so please book as soon as possible.
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