Some eight authors will be heading to the fantastic Wokingham Children’s Book Festival this October in a series of live and online events.
Now in its 4th year, this dedicated book festival will bring diverse and lively events to Wokingham’s avid young readers on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 October. The festival line-up, featuring big names and local talent from the world of children’s books, has just been announced. Joining the celebrations are:
- Winner of the Blue Peter Best Story Award and bestselling author Kieran Larwood, will be talking about The Five Realms: Uki and the Ghostburrow. This is the sixth book, set in the world of Podkin One-Ear, which sees Uki and his companions attempt to save rabbit kind from destruction.
- Poet Joshua Seigal, winner of the 2020 LOLLIES, will be sharing poetry from his brand new collection Yapping Away. This, like all his previous poetry collections, is hilarious and witty alongside being heartfelt and will delight young poetry fans and even convert the sceptics.
- Best-selling author Holly Webb, will be exploring themes around environmentalism and friendship – perfect for the Greta Thunberg generation. She will be talking about her Earth Friends books and explaining how small changes can make a big difference to us and the world around us.
- Hannah Lee will be hosting a fun-filled and interactive event around her new picture book, The Rapping Princess. Children can learn more about fairy tales and the perfect ingredients to writing their very own rap!
- Swapna Haddow, joining live from New Zealand, and will talk about the first book in her brand-new series, Bad Panda, illustrated by Sheena Dempsey. Expect mischief, mayhem and some very naughty pandas.
- Annabelle Sami will talk about being an author and the inspiration behind her books ‘Llama Out Loud’ and ‘Llama on a Mission’. There’ll be stories, lots of llama jokes and an interactive ‘choose your own adventure’ style writing activity, where the audience will help to plan a break into the top-secret Llama Headquarters.
- Benjamin Dean, past Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month. Benjamin will be discussing “Me My Dad and the End of the Rainbow” his debut with LGBTQ+ themes of love and family.
- David Melling, author and illustrator of the amazing, “ Hugless Douglas” books will be joining us to introduce his new character Ruffles, for a fantastic draw-along event!
For 2021 the festival is running a hybrid model with limited in person Covid secure events at Wokingham Town Hall and everything available streamed online. Just visit the Book Festival website to book your tickets today.
The Wokingham Children’s Book Festival is bought to you by Wokingham Town Council, Wokingham Borough Council’s Library Service, ‘more arts.’ and some very dedicated and fun book smart volunteers.
