Children’s festival BookTastic announces ‘major’ expansion as line-up unveiled 

BookTastic, a children’s book festival with a focus on reaching disadvantaged children, has announced a “major” programme expansion as its 2023 event is unveiled.

The BookTastic schools programme was streamed into 2,000 schools across the UK in 2022, and will reach 16,000 schools in 2023, with the line-up featuring graphic novelist and Cartoon Network creator Jamie Smart; founder of Storymix Jasmine Richards; Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize, and Jhalak Prize-winner Patrice Lawrence; and writing duo Katie and Kevin Tsang.

Also involved will be Sharna Jackson, Lee Newbery, Sarah McIntyre, A F Harrold and Maz Evans. This year’s event will take place between 3rd and 7th July, at the end of the summer term, though events can be enjoyed live or watched later.

All BookTastic events are streamed from live, in-person theatre events to create an immersive experience for all pupils taking part, with in-class materials and supplementary reading and literacy work supplied in advance. 

To spread the word and enable the expansion, BookTastic partnered with Times Tables Rock Star, Numbots and Schoolreaders.

Rachael Rogan, founder of BookTastic, said: “When children discover the joy of reading, literacy follows. We create dynamic story experiences that open the world of reading to them, hopefully inspiring a lifelong love of books. We’re hugely excited to be growing our schools programme this year and reaching more children than ever before.”

BookTastic is also connecting indie bookshops across the UK with participating local schools as official stockists of the festival titles. Any booksellers that would like to get involved are invited to contact the festival organisers at festival@booktastic.org.uk. The BookTastic schools programme will be followed by the live BookTastic Children’s Book Festival in Bedford in November.