University partners first Cardiff Children’s Literature Festival

Cardiff will be bursting with imagination and stories this March for the inaugural Cardiff Children's Literature Festival. There are events taking place all over the city for children and adults alike with bestselling authors including Cressida Cowell, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell as well as talented illustrators like Lydia Monks and Martin Brown, illustrator for the Horrible Histories series.

The Festival is being organised by Cardiff Council, Literature Wales, Cardiff University and the National Museum of Wales.

Leading up to the Festival, primary school children from across Cardiff will be taking part in storyboarding, scriptwriting, poetry and prose workshops with Welsh writers including Jasper Fforde, Elen Caldecott and Eurig Salisbury. The work produced will be celebrated in a free exhibition at the Cardiff Story from 19 March to 7 April. During the Festival itself, high profile authors like Charlie Higson, Mererid Hopwood, Simon James and Anthony Browne will be offering a series of free events to school children at a number of city centre venues.

The Festival's events for adults include an enchanted tour through the classics with retired Cardiff University academic and first Professor of Children's Literature in the UK. Entitled 'Why should adults read children's books?,' Professor Peter Hunt will look at books like Alice, Treasure Island, The Wind in the Willows and The Secret Garden while making a case for having fun and thinking seriously and not solemnly about children's literature.

Dr Heather Worthington from the School of English, Communication and Philosophy will be hosting an 'in conversation' called Writing the Detectives with Charlie Higson (Young Bond) and Andrew Lane (Young Sherlock)exploring the choices writers make when writing for young and old, and the dilemmas and dramas of rewriting famous detectives when writing a crime detection thriller.

Cardiff-born, first-language Welsh-speaker Mererid Hopwood will be giving the G. J. Williams Memorial Lecture. She became the first woman to win the prestigious Chair at the National Eisteddfod, has published a number of children's books and was the Children's Poet in 2005. The lecture is in Welsh with simultaneous translation provided.

For children, there are numerous events to capture their imagination and creativity with many of their favourite authors and illustrators, as well as some new faces. Author Dan Anthony will be hosting a city walk to look for Rugby Zombies, illustrator Jackie Morris will hold a workshop on the art of picture-book making and there are Thrills, Chills and Spills: Dark Tales as told by award winning storyteller Daniel Morden.

The Festival will also have many opportunities for children to get involved with writing and drawing themselves and learn how to bring words and pictures to life. There will be tales of fantastical creatures, amazing aliens and rainbow fairies and opportunities to meet singing mermaids, daring dragons, Groovy Greeks, cuddly bears and many more wonderful characters – just bring your imagination!