Festivals

Children's Laureate and creator of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson, is one of the literary stars coming to Bath in September for the 10-day Bath Festival of Children’s Literature.

Younger readers have also not been forgotten, with the inclusion of authors such as Lauren Child, creator of BBC TV’s Charlie and Lola and Julia Donaldson, author of popular picture book The Gruffalo.

Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series will also be there, along with collaborator Tony Ross, who illustrates the series and is also author of the Little Princess books.

Keys to Kingdom

Garth Nix, the Australian fantasy author of the Keys to the Kingdom series comes to Bath for his only UK festival appearance of 2007, along with Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series and Geraldine McCaughrean, author of the official Peter Pan sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet.

Adult fiction writer Joanne Harris, author of the book Chocolat, which became a film starring Johnny Depp, celebrates the publication of her first book for children this autumn with a visit, along with Lucy Hawking, daughter of Stephen Hawking, who has collaborated with her father on a new children's book, also published in the autumn.

“We want to inspire, to entertain and to educate, but most of all to have fun. It's not just about the big name authors though - there'll be lots of events for the youngest readers-to-be - for animal lovers, magicians, young cooks, wannabe pirates, fairies and princesses." 

There are 80 ticketed events for the public, across the duration of the festival, which runs from 21-30 September 2007.

The target audience will be those aged up to 16 and their families, but there will be some events aimed solely at adults, in the form of writing and illustration masterclasses.

Historic venues

The festival hopes to attract up to 10,000 people and will take place in a number of venues across Bath including The Guildhall, The Assembly Rooms, The Mission Theatre, Bath Forum, Bath Pavilion and Bath Central Library.  

Martin Brown, illustrator of the Horrible Histories series, has drawn the main poster image for the festival - a young reader surrounded by three fascinated characters who reflect Bath's famous historical and literary heritage - a Roman, a Georgian and a Jane Austen-esque figure.

Jacqueline Wilson, the current Children's Laureate, who was born in Bath, will be the star of one of its largest events, at the Bath Pavilion on the opening weekend, in front of an audience of 1,000.

"I'm thrilled to be back in Bath for the inaugural Bath Children's Literature Festival.  It's such a special place and I'm always glad of an excuse to visit," she said.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on 2 July - more details from the website at www.bathfestivalofchildrensliterature.co.uk/