Stratford Literary Festival and IPG plan picture book competition

The Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival and the Independent Publishers Guild are partnering on a new children’s picture book competition.

The Stratford Literary Festival will launch the competition in early autumn, aiming to attract debut authors and illustrators, and is working with the IPG to find a publisher to publish the winning story and handle marketing and distribution. It is hoped the book will be launched at next year’s 10th anniversary festival, which opens on 23rd April 2017.

Director Annie Ashworth said: ‘‘The Festival already has a strong reputation for being a festival for writers, especially debut writers, and we already publish a book each year containing the winners of our worldwide creative writing competition, but we are very excited to be launching a book especially for children and to be working with an organisation as highly respected as the IPG."

IPG chief executive Bridget Shine said: "The IPG is always looking to establish new partnerships across publishing and culture, and we are delighted to be able to help Stratford Literary Festival with this initiative. Our members include many of the UK’s most creative children’s publishers, and the competition will be an exciting opportunity for them to discover new talent in picture books."

The competition fits with the Festival’s 2017 birthday campaign, Sharing Stories, to encourage parents to read with their children, and is designed to find an engaging illustrated story by an author and/or illustrator who has not been published before.

The book will be aimed at children up to five years old and a maximum of 28 pages.

Publishers who are IPG members and are interested in working with the Festival should contact Annie Ashworth on annie@stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk before 31st August.