Barnes Children’s Literature Festival: 22 & 23 June
Sir Quentin Blake celebrates 10 Years of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival
Every year of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, one of the children’s literature legends adds something of their own to the official Festival poster. And to celebrate 10 Years of the Festival, the mighty Sir Quentin Blake has contributed this year. Past legends have included Barnes’s beloved Judith Kerr, the Gruffalo illustrator, Axel Scheffler, and last year, the superstar creator of the How to Train Your Dragon books and film series, Cressida Cowell.
Festival Director Amanda Brettargh says: ‘Generations of young readers have grown up loving Sir Quentin’s instantly recognisable drawing style. He has conjured some of the most memorable figures in children’s literature from Dr Seuss to Roald Dahl, as well as his own wacky cast of characters like the star of our poster, Mister Magnolia and Mrs Armitage.
‘Like so many people, Sir Quentin was the illustrator of my childhood and we are bursting with pride that he has created this poster especially for Barnes and is now part of our Festival family forever.’
Sir Quentin Blake says: ‘The people in my drawings are always delighted to have another outing. This time they are in the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival poster and you can see that they couldn’t be more excited about it. Happy 10th anniversary!’
National treasure Michael Rosen, beloved bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, the million selling creator of the Tom Gates series, Liz Pichon, and Axel Scheffler are just a few of the big names on their way to Barnes this year.
They will be joined by the American author of the smash hit InvestiGators series, John Patrick Green. Also there will be renowned cartoonist Chris Riddell, and Sophie Dahl, granddaughter of Roald, with her magical puppet theatre.
There will be plenty of fun for ‘fact’ fans, too, including the hit historian Greg Jenner, dinosaur expert Professor Ben Garrod, BBC Radio 4’s science sleuth Dr Adam Rutherford, star of Start The Week and Rutherford & Fry, and multi-award winning author Dr Roopa Farooki.
This year’s highlights include the London launch of Taskmaster Club, based on the smash hit comedy panel game show starring Alex Horne, with families competing against each other to see if they have what it takes to be Barnes Taskmaster Champion.
There will be more than 100 family friendliest readings, workshops, performances and free activities around the village over the weekend.
barneskidslitfest.org
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