FCBG Conference 2022

This weekend I went to Woldingham School, Caterham for the FCBG 2022 Conference. Always a fantastic event, this year felt extra special as the last one was in 2019 and so it was very exciting to actually be able to meet up with familiar faces and old friends again. My excitement was tempered by worries about Covid and being on crutches, but I needn’t have worried. The Executive Committee had organised everything brilliantly and there are no kinder or more helpful people than book-lovers! The following offers a taste of what it was like!

The weekend started with these fabulous cupcakes from Welbeck Flame, celebrating ‘Hedgewitch’ by Skye McKenna. It was lovely to hear Skye reading a section from her book before catching up with everyone and heading for the publishers’ presentations.

Hearing about all the new book-ish treats on their way is one of my favourite parts of Conference. Each publisher gave a presentation offering a tantalising glimpse of their up-coming books, making everyone’s must-have list instantly grow a mile! This session was followed by the publishers’ exhibition- a fantastic opportunity to chat to all the lovely publishing people and to have a closer look at some of their amazing books. It is such a treat to be able to browse through these, discussing them and finding out more. Thanks to their generosity and support, my TBR pile is massive!

The evening continued with an address from Michael Morpurgo before dinner and then a quiz led by Christopher Lloyd, the perfect way to end an exciting first day!

An action packed programme for day 2 started with Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre. Despite being ill with Covid, this fabulous pair still entertained us with a brilliant reading from ‘Kevin and the Unicorns’ before Sarah taught us all to draw Kevin- and turn it into our own character. Great fun!

Next was Anna James, discussing her ‘Pages and Co’ series so far and where Tilly’s adventures will take her next. These books are great favourites of mine and are very popular at school so it was a real pleasure hearing her speak about them.

After tea and more cake (this time courtesy of OUP!), Jess Butterworth, Roderick O’Grady and Eloise Williams formed the ‘sense of place’ panel in discussion with Annie Everall. This fascinating session was followed by Anne Fine, whose new book ‘Aftershocks’ is an excellent read.

Seminars followed lunch and as ever, it was a real struggle to decide which session to attend. I chose Coral Rumble’s as I love her poetry and her verse novel, ‘Little Light’. Not only did she talk about her inspiration for writing and share some of her work with us, she also led us in an activity to help us capture ideas for writing our own poems. Brilliant session! The seminars were followed by Tony Bradman whose historical fiction books are very popular in school.

Another coffee break- and more cake, this time celebrating ‘Goddess’ from Nosy Crow- before the AGM and group meetings. Time for a quick rest- and then off to Cocktails with Lauren Child, followed by the Gala dinner with Cressida Cowell speaking.

Sunday started with a fantastic session with Petr Horacek and Nicola Davies. Petr shared his new book, ‘A Best Friend for Bear’, which is absolutely delightful before starting a painting which he worked on whilst Nicola spoke about various projects she has been working on, including their latest collaboration.

The following session was Sophy Henn. Full of energy and enthusiasm as ever, Sophy talked about her inspiration and ideas, including her latest creation, Pizazz! Her agonising sense of self-awareness makes Pizazz is such a relatable character and shows that everyone can be a superhero in their own way.

The next coffee break was to celebrate 20 years of Bounce Marketing- the cake was delicious! At this point, Tom Palmer was presented with the CBA trophy he won for D-DAY DOG in 2020. Sarah also presented him with a lovely scrapbook full of children’s work.

Tom then joined Cat Weldon and Natasha Farrant as part of the history panel for a brilliant session, including readings from their books. The final session of the day was Poetry! Matt Goodfellow, Alex Wharton and Joseph Coelho shared a selection of their work and talked about the importance of poetry for helping people express themselves. Talk about finishing on a high note!

It was a brilliant, fun-filled weekend, with lots of book-ish joy. This just offers a snapshot of what happened- there was so much to enjoy and so many memories to take away. I really recommend the FCBG Conference to anyone who has never been - and can’t wait for next year!