Shireen, Monks and Sharratt join Cheltenham Literature Festival schools programme

Nick Sharratt, Lydia Monks and Nadia Shireen will appear at The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival this autumn, as part of the event’s schools programme.

Running throughout September and October, the festival will be spread across a programme of more than 60 events, workshops, webinars and storytelling sessions, exploring the theme “Read the World”. 

Sharratt will discuss his latest book, Super Silly Museums (Alison Green Books,) while Monks will lead an interactive session with draw-alongs, readings and games around her new book Adoette (Andersen Press). Monks has also created the artwork for the primary and family programmes. Shireen will host an event on creating characters as she presents her Grimwood series (Simon & Schuster).

Kicking off the festival will be webinar workshops geared towards children in Key Stage 2, featuring authors including Emma Carroll, Katie and Kevin Tsang and Annabelle Sami running from 7th to 16th October.

Carnegie Medal-winning Irish writer Sarah Crossan will talk about the power of poetry and spoken word, while Costa Book Awards-shortlisted author Darren Charlton and Welsh novelist and musician Manon Steffan Ros will reveal routes to publication.

Author and environmentalist Neal Layton will explore A World Full of Wildlife (Wren & Rook), while Sam Sedgman discusses Epic Adventures (Macmillan Children’s), his non-fiction book that showcases history, geography, food and culture from around the world. At this year’s “Battle of the Books” event, each participating school will champion the book the students feel builds the most empathy with a culture other than their own. It will be hosted by author Julian Sedgwick.

The festival’s flagship education programme and conference, “Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils”, which has been running for seven years, will be aimed at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 practitioners this year. Speakers include Carroll, Sophie Kirtley, S F Said and literacy experts Darren Chetty, Miranda McKearney and Dr Alison Waller as well as representatives from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. 

There will also be a raft of free activities in the festival village, with pop-up performances from favourite book characters in The Wild Wood. Guest curators, including the Week Junior will be presenting a “Global News Trail” featuring stories and pictures from across the globe, offering a free copy of the magazine for everyone who completes the trail.

Other highlights include author and illustrator Rob Biddulph presenting his magical fiction series Peanut Jones (Macmillan Children’s) and workshops on “writing wildly” with Sophie Kirtley and poet Laura Mucha. An industry panel made up of podcast developer Clarissa Pabi, content creator and author Ione Gamble, journalist Emily Koch and writer Yomi Sode will talk about making a career in writing and reveal tips on developing an entrepreneurial approach to being published.

Loraine Evans, family and schools programme manager, and Rebecca Smith, education manager, said: “We are proud to present this year’s programme of brilliant authors, illustrators, poets, and literary professionals who are committed to inspiring children, young people and their teachers to read for pleasure. Our diverse and dynamic line-up aims to boost children’s imaginative superpowers and empower teachers to bring books to life in their classrooms. We are delighted that author and illustrator Lydia Monks has created the artwork for the Primary School and Family programmes. The illustration is inspired by her new picture book Adoette which we felt chimed beautifully with our Read the World themes around community, protest and protecting the environment.”