Bishop’s Stortford College’s Festival of Literature will bring together acclaimed authors, illustrators and poets this February.
For a second year, the event, which aims to inspire both children and adults to read for pleasure, is being held online.
British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and film-maker David Olusoga is one of the publishing world’s stars who will feature in separate programmes for primary and secondary schools rather than live presentations for the whole community.
Bill Toleman, head of prep school, said: “I am delighted that the college will be bringing the very best in literature to pupils across the UK once again this year. The Festival of Literature team has put together an impressive programme of events, which will be broadcast online again after a roaring success last year.
“We’d like to thank the amazing authors, illustrators and poets who will be joining us during the event and we’re very excited to welcome our audiences from across the country. Let’s get reading!”
Launched in 2003, the event has welcomed a host of household names to speak over the years, including Michael Portillo, Giles Brandreth, Germaine Greer, Robin Ince, Jay Rayner, Kim Slater and Daljit Nagra.
Now entering its 13th year, the festival is available to watch live or on catch up. It began on Monday (January 31) and ends on Friday, February 11.
Lisa Jewell kicks off the secondary programme on Friday (February 4) at 2pm with an online session for Year 12 and Year 13 students.
Born in London in 1968 where she still lives with her husband and two daughters, she is a global best-selling writer.
Her books have sold over 5m copies worldwide, in over 25 languages and her first novel Ralph’s Party was the bestselling debut novel of 1999.
Her most recent novels Invisible Girl, The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone have all been number one Sunday Times bestsellers and she will be discussing her 19th book, The Night She Disappeared, her writing style and inspiration.
David Olusoga will be talking to Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 pupils on Monday, February 7.
The professor of public history at Manchester University is a BAFTA award-winning documentary maker, broadcaster and writer.
A regular contributor to the Guardian, Observer, New Statesman and BBC History Magazine, his books include Black and British, which won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize and the Longman-History Today Trustees Award, The Kaiser’s Holocaust and The World’s War. He was also a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Black British History.
On television, he presented the major BBC2 series A Black History of Britain, from slavery to the 20th century, from the Windrush Generation to the country today. His contribution to the landmark BBC Arts series Civilisations explores contact, trade, interaction, empire and race. He has also presented shows such as A House Through Time, Black and British: A Forgotten History and the BAFTA Award-winning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.
David was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian father and British mother, before migrating to the UK when he was five. He grew up on a council estate in Gateshead and studied history and journalism before starting his career in broadcasting. Later his home was attacked by the National Front on multiple occasions and his family was eventually forced out of their home.
His move into television came about when David realised black people were not represented in the media landscape, so following his graduation from university he became a TV producer.
Following his Liverpool-based BBC series, A House Through Time, David moved on to tell the story of a Georgian end-of-terrace property in Ravensworth Terrace, Newcastle, on his native Tyneside. Starting the story from around the time the house was built in 1824, David explored the often complex lives of the owners and inhabitants from pre-Victorian times right up to the present day – with some extraordinary revelations along the way.
In 2019, he was awarded an OBE for services to history and community integration. Black and British: a short and essential history will be his subject online at 2pm.
Year 8 classes will be entertained by Robert Muchamore, the bestselling author of the Cherub series. His new Robin Hood series features a 12-year-old Robin and is set in a modern-day Sherwood Forest.
His books have sold over 14m copies worldwide, have been translated into 24 languages, and have been number one bestsellers in eight countries.
On Tuesday, February 8 at 2pm, he will talk about his path to becoming a writer.
A M Dassu is the author of the internationally critically acclaimed novel Boy, Everywhere, named as one of The Guardian, Bookriot, BookTrust and CLPE Best Children’s Books of 2020.
It was given a much-coveted star from Kirkus, Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly in America and is on Amnesty’s Books That Inspire Activism list as well as listed for 10 awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and is the 2021 winner of The Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction.
The author will discuss the refugees who inspired her award-winning novel and explore the issues they face when fleeing their homeland when she talks to Year 8 youngsters on Thursday, February 10, at 11.15am.
Emily Haworth-Booth is an award-winning author and illustrator of the picture books The King Who Banned the Dark and The Last Tree. Together with sister Alice she has written and illustrated a book called Protest!: How People Came Together to Change the World.
Year 7 and 8 pupils can join illustrator Emily for a hands-on graphic novel and comic workshop on Thursday, February 10, at 2pm.
Alex Wheatle was born in London to Jamaican parents in 1963. He spent most of his childhood in social services care.
A huge fan of reggae, in his mid-teens Alex was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system.
He is the author of The Crongton Knights series, Cane Warriors and The Humiliations of Welton Blake.
Alex will talk to Year, 9, 10 and 11 students about how reading turned his life around in a session on Friday, February 11, at 2pm.
Phil Earle continues the primary programme with a session for Year 6 students on Wednesday, February 2 at 11.15am.
Born and raised in the north of England, Phil is the best-selling author of over 20 acclaimed, award-winning books for children and teenagers. He has worked as a carer, a drama therapist, a bookseller and a publisher, and loves talking at schools and festivals around the world.
He lives with his partner, their five children, two dogs and a lizard named Bazzer and will be talking about how he became an author. He will also be reading from When the Sky Falls, a bestselling book about The Blitz, an angry boy, a gruff woman and a gorilla.
Ross Collins will host sessions for reception, Year 1 and 2 at 9.15am and for Year 3 and 4 at 10.15am on Thursday, February 3.
His own primary teacher, Mrs Spears, told his parents that he should go to art school and when he graduated, he won the Macmillan Prize for his first picture book.
Since then he’s illustrated over 130 books for children. He wrote The Elephantom, which has been adapted into a critically acclaimed play at the National Theatre. His book There’s a Bear On My Chair is a worldwide bestseller and won the inaugural Amnesty Honour. When he is not creating children’s books, he likes walking in the Scottish glens with his dog Ivy, his partner Jacqui and his son Ridley. His book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland written by Jeanne Willis is in bookshops now.
Tom Ellen is an author and journalist from London. He is the co-writer of three critically acclaimed young adult novels – Lobsters, which was shortlisted for The Bookseller’s inaugural YA Book Prize in 2015, Never Evers, and Freshers, nominated for the 2018 Carnegie Medal.
His first middle-grade book, The Cartoons That Came to Life, illustrated by Phil Corbett, was published in July 2021, with its sequel set to follow this summer.
Phil calls himself a storyteller rather than both an author and an illustrator.
Year 3 classes can join a draw-a-long as author Tom tells Phil about a new character in the next book of The Cartoons That Came to Life series on Thursday, February 3, at 11.15am.
Katie and Kevin Tsang met in 2008 while studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since then they have lived on three different continents and travelled to over 40 countries together.
As well as the Dragon Realm series, they are the co-writers of the young fiction series Sam Wu is Not Afraid and Katie also writes for young adults as Katherine Webber. They currently live in London with their young daughter.
They will be talking about their epic fantasy Dragon Realm series and how the stories are inspired by Chinese mythology in a session for Year 4 pupils on Friday, February 4, at 11.15am.
Tickets are available from www.festivalofliterature.co.ukand cost £175 for the primary programme and £105 for the secondary programme. Schools can stream the festival live or watch on-demand. Teaching resources are also available for each author event.
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