FUN, LAUGHTER and great works of fiction – that was the premise for last weekend’s Wokingham Children’s Book Festival.
Usually held across the town centre and featuring special sessions for young bookworms to attend in person, the coronavirus meant that it had to go online this year.
But that didn’t stop it from being a real page-turner.
Children were able to log on to sessions via the internet featuring talks from authors and illustrators.
Aimed at youngsters aged three to 12, sessions covered everything from Illustrating the new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang book to writing techniques, a fun-packed storytime, and championing causes that young people believe in, as well as what it means to be a young person campaigning in 2020.
In the run-up to the event, Wokingham Library ran 22 hugely successful interactive, online ‘Authors into School’ sessions across 40 schools borough-wide.
In all, 410 classes from reception to year 8 listened into selected authors covering everything from storytime With Portia Mushambi’s Who can save the Baobab tree?, Magic Moments with Winnie and Wilbur from illustrator Korky Paul, chatted about Diversity and Inclusion in Picture Books with Nadine Kaadan, plus non-fiction talks on The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons with author Natascha Biebow.
Organisers said that there was fun, lots of laughter, funny stories and some fabulous tips to help aspiring young writers and illustrators develop their ideas. And even though the festival was online, the live chat box enabled everyone to ask questions throughout the author sessions, and what great questions they were.
Cllr Sally Gurney, Chair Wokingham Town Council Arts and Culture Committee, said: “The book festival attracted over 700 participants across the weekend, which was a real testament to the quality of authors and illustrators attending.
“Our aim each year is to share the love of books and help develop young storytellers and writers across the town.
“We hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and we look forward to welcoming you back next year.”
She added: “Our thanks go out to Steve Antony, Onjali Rauf, Peter Bunzl, Roopa Farooki, Smriti Halls, Inbal Leitner, Iszi Lawrence, Ken Wilson-Max, Chitra Soundar and Elle McNicoll for entertaining us all over the weekend.”
