Tomorrow (Sunday 27 September) sees the start of the six-day free online Reading is Magic Festival, delivered by the team who usually put on the Bath Children’s Literature Festival at this time of year.
The Kids Lit Fest team has enlisted the support of Waterstones UK Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell, with thousands of teachers and families in more than 50 countries having signed up to enjoy author events online live. And you can sign up here: www.readingismagicfestival.com
Remember, all events can be watched on demand until the end of the year, so if you’ve enjoyed something, you can tell your friends.
Reading is Magic Festival opens at 2pm on Sunday afternoon with a theatrical reading of Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and his The Tale of the Two Adventures by the brilliantly engaging Kristina Stephenson. This delightful session is ideal for five to seven-year-olds, with clues to follow and puzzles to be solved. Learn how to make a treasure chest from a cardboard box and find out who is following Sir Charlie and his friends as they go on their quest to find the treasure.
On Monday we will be inspired by Cressida Cowell’s charter for children which declares that every child should be able to be creative for at least 15 minutes a week.
Draw-along
Who better than to fire our imaginations and get our pencils drawing than comics artist Adam Murphy, creator of Corpse Talk and Lost Tales? His session gives us ideas on how to draw cartoon characters of real people. He says not to worry about creating the perfect drawing, but just to relax and have a go.
On being creative
Listen to
award-winning spoken word artist Steven Camden chatting to
student Mica Lees about how he found himself making a living from his
creativity through starting to write rhymes for hip-hop. As an
author, spoken word artist and playwright Steven doesn’t like being
pigeon-holed and says it’s exciting to wander. Inspiration for
students aged 12 and over.
Storytime
At 11 each morning during Reading is Magic, you can enjoy storytime. Monday’s music and laughter comes from the home of the creators of the brilliantly bonkers Supertato, Norman the Slug and Barry the Fish, Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, who are great entertainers. Their story about Bernard, the robot, in No-Bot and Friends, is ideal for children aged five to seven.
What matters to us
Three artists talk about why comics matter. Scottish illustration student Caitlyn Bannatyne talks passionately about graphic novels and gives us an introduction to the genre. From Brooklyn, New York Katie Yamasaki, children’s book illustrator and mural artist talks about the importance of identity and representation in art. The street art, billboards etc that we see should represent all of us. Comic books writer Ardo Omer recommends some comics, including Miss Marvel and The Justice series, also Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia.
Assembly
We can’t all be together in real life but we can come together online. The spellbinding Cressida Cowell gives an inspiring talk to encourage us to be creative. Keep a special book to write your stories in, don’t worry about your handwriting, just get those ideas flowing. Cressida tells her own tale of her early writing and she about her series The Wizards of Once, with a tease of what happens in her final book this series, Never and Forever. Cressida has loads of suggestions as to how we can be great storytellers too.
Tuesday’s theme is that every child should have a planet to read on.
Letters to the Earth
Ever
wondered how you can get your voice heard? Poet Rakaya Fetuga and a
chorus of young voices share ideas on how we can write our own
letters to the Earth and who we can share them with to be part of a
call for change. Use the #LetterstoEarth and be part of the big
story.
The magic of trees
Listen as Cressida Cowell transports you into a mystical ancient forest. Wander among the trees in your imagination as we hear why trees and nature are so good for us. And how walks through woods with her grandfather inspired Cressida in writing The Wizards of Once series.
Storytime
Writer Anna
Wilson chats to us from her home in Cornwall, a land of mermaids,
ghosts and storytelling. She reminds us that wherever we live we can
make our neighbourhood a nicer place by helping to clear up the
litter. Don’t forget to wear gloves and carry a bag to collect it
in! She’ll also be sharing things to do in October from her book
2020 Nature Month by Month.
What matters to us
Two
compelling young voices on the importance of protecting our natural
world and sharing their own stories of how nature has played a vital
role in their lives. Award-wining young nature writer Dara
McAnulty and Mya-Rose Craig, aka BirdGirl, are activists
who make us realise from an early age we can care about and campaign
to protect and share nature.
Assembly
Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeloa bring us the heart-warming story of Rocket and her family in Clean Up! And after reading us the story and sharing the pictures, they have tips for us at home on how to look after our world. Maybe you can put together your own community clean-up crew?
On Wednesday it’s all about representation – about a child being able to see themselves in a book.
Look out for storytime with Jessica Love and Julian Is a Mermaid, a great session on reflecting realities with YA writers Anthony McGowan and Phil Earle and a chat with author Elle McNicoll on creating your own chaarcters. There’s also a fascinating talk between two activitists, Eunice Olumide from Scotland and Malizah from Bristol, talking about their own experiences and about the black curriculum. Four great mystery writers come together to talk about why we love mystery stories. Hear recommendations for mystery books you might love too, from Robin Stevens, Sharna Jackson, Serena Patel and Katherine Woodfine.
Thursday’s theme is have advice from a trained librarian or bookseller. It’s also National Poetry Day.
Make music
The Bookshop
Band, coming to us from a shop with books in, bring uplifting
songs, tunes and rhyme to begin today’s sessions. Perhaps there’s
a book that makes you want to write a song about it.
Poetry matters
To mark National Poetry Day last year’s National Poetry Day ambassador Joseph Coelho talks about his love of libraries and reads from his own poetry. Maybe the autumn weather will also inspire you to make pictures with words? Will you be able to solve Joseph’s riddles?
Storytime
Alex Wheatle is an acclaimed YA novelist whose books tackle gritty real-life situations. He talks about rediscovering reading when he was in prison after the Brixton Riots of the early 1980s and continuing his self-taught path through many hours spent at Brixton Library. He was looking for stories he could relate to and when he found them that started his path to becoming a writer. He reads a powerful extract from his new book Cane Warriors, inspired by a historic slave rebellion
Champion librarians and booksellers
Watch illustrator Chris Riddell (creator of Goth Girl and The Cloud Horse Chronicles) draw some of our favourite characters from The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland while three librarians and booksellers recommend titles for the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat and Alice. Which book would you choose for adventurous Alice or the mysterious smiling Cheshire Cat?
Assembly
Canadian writer David A Robertson chats to Welsh writer Eloise Williams in her home. They talk about their work and their shared love of myth and folklore. David introduces his new book The Barren Grounds, which is full of adventure and a quest. There’s the chance to join a live Q&A at 2.40pm.
And finally on Friday we celebrate reading for the joy of it.
Letters to the Earth2
We start the day with the next part of the Letters to the Earth project, exploring how we get our messages read and our voices heard.
Magic in books
Jasbinder Bilan, author of Ashta and the Spirit Bird and Kiran Milward Hargrave, who write The Girl of Ink and Stars, talk to each other about what inspires their own tales where magic nudges up against our world. This is a fantastic chance to hear the writers of our favourite magical books talk about their own choice of books when they were children and how magic has always played, and still does, a part in their lives.
Storytime
Friday’s storytime will have teachers laughing along with their pupils as they settle down to enjoy a cheeky, fast-paced one-woman show from Pamela Butchart. She talks about her Izzy series of books, the school dinners that changed her life before reading an extract from new latest book, Icarus Was Ridiculous. This follows on from her re-telling of four Shakespeare plays in To Wee or Not to Wee and brings us an accessible, hilarious take on stories from Greek myths with Icarus was Ridiculous.
Draw-along
More laughter and fun with books comes with The Big Draw-Off. This has the format of a quiz show, hosted by writer Steven Butler (author of The Nothing To See Here Hotel series) with contestants Steven Lenton (illustrator of The Nothing To See Here Hotel series) and Sophy Henn (author of Pzazz) competing to see who can do the best drawings in the quickest time. Have a pen and paper handy and see how quick off the draw you can be!
Assembly: the joy of reading
What
happens if a writer goes into a school and says: ‘reading is magic’
– and the kid shrugs his shoulders and says: ‘not for me it
isn’t?’ UK Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell and the USA’s
Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, the best-selling writer
Jason Reynolds find that on both sides of the Atlantic they are both
working to win children over to books. Persuading children that
reading is a joy is a national and international issue that we should
all be talking about.
Enjoy the Reading is Magic Festival!