Six-day reading festival celebrating acclaimed authors with family activities

A six day festival of poetry, performance, writing and illustrating will bring together leading lights in children’s literature to share and celebrate stories in all their forms.

There is a packed programme of events for all ages at the Herne Hill Kids’ Lit Fest 2020, from February 4-9.

There is poetry, performance,  storytelling, illustration and creative writing, followed by evening talks, workshops and an open mic night where participants can share their work.

Headlining on Saturday afternoon will be former Children’s Laureate and award-winning author and illustrator, Chris Riddell, and his daughter, the talented young illustrator Katy Riddell, who will be doing live drawing and talking stories with local children. Chris and Katy will also announce the winners of the ‘Stepping Into Stories’ Story Making Competition.

Other highlights include fun with witches and mermaids with Sibéal Pounder, author of the ‘Witch Wars’ series and ‘Bad Mermaids’; a musical puppetry adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Mimi and the Mountain Dragon’; a Teen Reading Panel with international speaker and award winning teen author, Nicola Morgan; and an inspiring ‘How To Get Published’ panel with leading experts in the field.

The Herne Hill Kids’ Lit Fest 2020 is being delivered by a collaboration between the Herne Hill Forum, Children’s Writers and Illustrators for Stories and Literacy (CWISL) and Tales On Moon Lane Children’s Bookshop, and is partly funded by a Thames Water compensation award following their devastating flood in 2013.

Tamara Macfarlane, internationally acclaimed children’s author and owner of Herne Hill’s award-winning children’s bookshop, Tales On Moon Lane, said: ‘We were one of the businesses worst hit by the flood. This Children’s Literary Festival has been many years in the making and will put the area firmly on the map as a thriving destination for children’s literacy, publishing and storytelling.

“We intend February’s programme to launch an annual Herne Hill Kids’ Lit Fest, that will become a major event on the literary festival calendar’.

Most of the festival will take place in Herne Hill’s Station Hall as part of an ambitious programme to raise £1m of capital funding to make this vital community space fully accessible and truly outstanding. There are also events on offer in fully accessible venues nearby.

Mo O’Hara, children’s author and a leading member of the festival delivery team, said:  “We’re delighted to be offering such an exciting range of authors, illustrators and industry experts, and hope to inspire the next generation of story makers from every walk of life.”

Herne Hill Kids’ Lit Fest 2020 event highlights include:

• Christian Darkin, celebrated author and journalist – come up with a criminal character, then work together to commit a crime (5th Feb, 3.45pm)
• Anne Marie Perks, iIllustration workshop – be the star of your own story by learning to write and illustrate autobiographical comics (6th Feb, 3.45pm)
• Reading For Pleasure Panel with Candy Gourlay (Carnegie nominated author), Katharine Smales (publisher and university lecturer ), Zoey Dixon (Lambeth Libraries) and Catherine Millar (Create a Reading School Director) (6th Feb, 7.30pm)
• Mimi & The Mountain Dragon – musical puppetry adventure for ages 3+, adapted by Skewbald Theatre from the book by Michael Morpurgo & Helen Stephens (7th Feb, 3.45pm)
• From pitching your novel to submitting it and beyond, join Beverley Birch, long-time editor at Hodder Children’s Books and author of more than 50 books; Ken Wilson-Max, publisher at Alanna Max; and Sara Grant, author, to help give you and your manuscript the best shot at success (7th Feb, 7.30pm)
• Frann Preston-Gannon, author and illustrator, interactive musical reading of her new book, “In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon” followed by fun craft activity (8th Feb, 11.15am)
• Joseph Coelho, award-winning poet and author, high energy performance event to celebrate his latest poetry collection ‘Poems Aloud’ (8th Feb, 12.30)
• Chris Riddell, former Children’s Laureate and award-winning author and illustrator, together with his daughter, the talented illustrator Katy Riddell, drawing, creating and exploring books – as well as announcing ‘Stepping Into Stories’ competition winners! (8th Feb, 3pm)
• Nicholas Allan, magic illusion, illustration, and story reading, the true story of Picasso’s trousers – and his art (9th Feb, 11.15am)
• Sibéal Pounder, author of the ‘Witch Wars’ series and ‘Bad Mermaids’, create cool characters and build amazingly weird worlds. Hats and shells strongly encouraged (9th Feb, 3pm)

Pupils will also be participating in a four day programme of events purely for schools. This builds on the successes of the Herne Hill Book Week Festival held at Station Hall in March 2019, which was attended by over 650 local children.

The schools programme will again bring together a large local community of school children to share in a growing love of books and storytelling, with the ‘Stepping Into Stories’ competition at its heart.