The all star line-up for the free online Reading Is Magic Festival for young people has been announced!
The festival is organised by the Bath Children’s Literature Festival and runs from Sunday 27 September – Friday 2 October 2020
How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once creator and current Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell is heading the line-up of best-selling authors and illustrators, while the event will be hosted by TV presenter, broadcaster and Strictly Come Dancing finalist, Karim Zeroual.
Among the writers and illustrators leading sessions and inspiring young people are New York-based mural artist Katie Yamasaki, Costa Book Award-winner 2019, Bath-based Jasbinder Bilan, and teenage influencer Dara McAnulty, author of Diary of a Young Naturalist. Recent Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize-winners Dapo Adeola & Nathan Bryon will share their new book Clean Up! on our ‘have a planet to read on’ themed day and Scottish model, actor and writer Eunice Olumide OBE will lead a discussion on the black curriculum on our ‘see themselves reflected in a book’ day.
Some of the audiences’ favourites from previous Bath Children’s Literature Festivals will also be leading sessions, including murder-mystery writer Robin Stevens, Supertato and No-bot creators Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, Sunday Times bestseller Kiran Millwood Hargrave and the Observer political cartoonist and children’s illustrator Chris Riddell. And on the final day, UK Waterstones Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell will be joined by USA National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds to celebrate the joy of reading!
On Sunday 27 September, the festival opens with Borders Book Festival’s event with Kristina Stephenson, creator of the Sir Charlie Stinky Socks picture books. The event heralds the bringing together of book festivals and their audiences all around the world. An overview of the Monday-to- Friday programme can be found below with full details, including age guidance at readingismagicfestival.com.
The Reading is Magic Festival will promote creativity and connection through stories and shared experiences, creating content for children and young people ages 4 to young adults. Schools can view events live in UK time or on demand afterwards. Online materials and resources will support each event and book buying opportunities will be signposted. Schools and families can sign up now at readingismagicfestival.com.
Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2019 – 2022, said, “I was delighted when Bath Festivals suggested the Reading is Magic Festival in partnership with a network of other festivals, based on some of the themes in my Waterstones Children’s Laureate Charter – the giant ‘to do list’ I announced on my appointment as Children’s Laureate.
“Research shows that reading for the joy of it has powerful, measurable real-life benefits that can transform lives. This ‘magic’ ought to be available to everyone which is why the work literature festivals do with their local school communities to inspire a love of reading is so important. I am excited that the wonderful virtual programme of events in the Reading is Magic Festival will be available, for free, to schools up and down the country and internationally, so that young people, whether at home or in their classroom bubbles can experience the magic of books and reading.”
Reading is Magic Festival is supported by Baillie Gifford, Bath Spa University, Bath Recreation, Bath Business Improvement District, Kingswood School, Bath, Novia, Royal High School, Bath and Arts Council England.
Fun Kids Radio is a festival media partner and will be airing interviews with participating authors and illustrators and running competitions in the run-up to the festival.
Reading is Magic Festival Programme
Monday 28 September: ‘Every child has the right to… Be creative for at least 15 minutes a week’
- 9.15am: A video event with comic artist Adam Murphy inspiring us to create our own comics, brought to you by Boswell Book Festival.
- 9.45am: A podcast about creativity and performance from one of the UK’s best-known spoken word artists, Steve Camden, whose poetry collection Everything All At Once is all about life at secondary school.
- 11am: An action-packed storytelling event from the brilliant brains behind the super-selling Supertato series, Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.
- 1.30pm: A celebration of comics and why children engage with them, brought to you by Brooklyn Book Festival and Bath Children’s Literature Festival, with comic-enthusiast Ardo Omer, New York based mural artist Katie Yamasaki and comic-focused computer art student Caitlyn Buchanan.
- 2pm: Cressida Cowell will treat the audience to a spellbinding talk about the final book in her number one-selling The Wizards of Once series, Never and Forever, curated by Henley Literary Festival and Bath Children’s Literature Festival. A live Q&A will follow this event.
Tuesday 29 September: ‘Every child has the right to … Have a planet to read on‘
- 9.15am: Poet Rakaya Fetuga and Kay Michael from the Letters to the Earth team invites children to write their own Letters to the Earth, brought to you by Bradford Literature Festival.
- 9.45am: A podcast with Cressida Cowell who will walk listeners through the wild woodland setting of her The Wizards of Once series.
- 11am: A storytime event from children’s nature writer Anna Wilson talking from the North Cornwall Book Festival about nature, magic and vampires.
- 1.30pm: A pair of outstanding young naturalists talk about the protection of our planet. Dara McAnulty, acclaimed author of Diary of a Young Naturalist, has already won the respect and friendship of broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham. He is joined by ornithologist and equal rights campaigner Mya-Rose ‘Birdgirl’ Craig who founded Black2Nature.
- 2pm: Waterstones Children’s Book Prize-winners Dapo Adeola and Nathan Bryon will inspire children to Clean Up! just like their young adventuring protagonist Rocket does when she visits her Grammy and Grampy’s tropical island home. A live Q&A will follow this event.
Wednesday 30 September: ‘Every child has the right to… See themselves reflected in a book‘
- 9.15am: #OwnVoices writer Elle McNicoll, whose research revealed that only 0.05% of protagonists in children’s books are neurodivergent, will inspire and enlighten in equal measures as she invites us to create our own characters. For more information on the term ‘neurodivergent’ from Elle McNicoll herself visit https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and- features/features/2020/july/elle-mcnicoll-on-being-a-neurodivergent-author/
- 9.45am: Award-winning authors of Young Adult fiction, Anthony McGowan and Phil Earle, talk about the importance of celebrating the drama, emotion and pathos in apparently mundane and everyday lives, focusing particularly on Anthony’s recent Carnegie Medal-winning Lark.
- 11am: An exuberant storytime from Jessica Love, whose standout picture book Julian is a Mermaid won the 2019 Stonewall Book award – an event which celebrates the beauty of being seen for who we truly are by someone who loves us.
- 1.30pm: An event exploring the enduring popularity of the whodunnit mystery. Bestselling and award-winning authors Robin Stevens, Sharna Jackson, Serena Patel and Katherine Woodfine share top tips on making their own mysteries inspired by their own lives and experiences.
- 2pm: An important event curated by the Boswell Book Festival and Bath Children’s Literature Festival that will consider the black curriculum. Leading the discussion will be Eunice Olumide OBE, Scottish model, actor and writer who has appeared on the Jeremy Vine Show and Question Time talking about the issue. A live Q&A will follow this event.
Thursday 1 October: ‘Every child has the right to … Have advice from a trained librarian or bookseller
- 9.15am: A joyful event from the Wigtown Book Festival – The Bookshop Band will perform two magical book-themed songs especially for the Reading is Magic Festival.
- 9.45am: A podcast in celebration of National Poetry Day presented by poet and self-confessed library-lover Joseph Coelho. Joseph will teach children how to perform Poems Aloud and tell them about his personal challenge to join 209 UK libraries.
- 11am: Multi-award-winning novelist Alex Wheatle MBE brings a vital part of British and Jamaican history vividly to life in his latest novel Cane Warriors, giving a voice to those who were denied one. Alex credits a prison library with empowering him to use words and actions as a force for change.
- 1.30: Observer political cartoonist and acclaimed author-illustrator Chris Riddell will draw four characters from his magical visual interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland while we hear contemporary book recommendations, selected for each character, from some extraordinary librarians and booksellers whose superpower is helping children find their own magical story.
- 2pm: An event from Toronto International Festival of Authors with #OwnVoices author David A. Robertson talking about The Barren Grounds, inspired by C. S. Lewis’s A live Q&A will follow this event.
Friday 2 October: ‘Every child has the right to… Read for the joy of it
- 9.15am: A follow-on event from Bradford Literature Festival as they encourage children to send and share their Letters to the Earth.
- 9.45am: Costa Book Award-winner Jasbinder Bilan and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize- winner Kiran Milwood Hargrave will chat about why reading and storytelling is magical, how they weave this magic into their own books, and the magic they found in the stories they read as children.
- 11am: A fun-filled storytime event from Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland with comic author Pamela Butchart.
- 1.30pm: Writer Steven Butler steps in to referee the head-to-head draw off between Brighton-based illustrators Steven Lenton and Sophy Henn as they battle it out illustrating.
- 2pm: Cressida Cowell and Jason Reynolds chat to Sunday Times children’s book critic Nicolette Jones about their roles as UK Waterstones Children’s Laureate and US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature respectively. They will celebrate the joys of reading and writing and the good that can come from it. A live Q&A will follow this event.
Find out more at www.readingismagicfestival.com
COMPETITION TIME!
Here’s a great chance to win a wonderful bundle of books from authors taking part in Reading Is Magic.
The prize includes –
- Fiend of the Seven Sewers written by Steven Butler and illustrated by Steven Lenton
- Wilde by Eloise Williams
- Anisha Accidental Detective
- Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
- 2020 Nature Month by Month: A Children’s Almanac by Anna Wilson
- Pizazz by Sophy Henn
To have a chance of winning, just visit The Bath & Wiltshire Parent Instagram page at #bathandwiltshireparent and follow the instructions!