St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature 2024

Last year, I had the best time at the St Austell Festival of Children’s Literature and so was delighted to be able to go again this year. This is rapidly becoming my favourite festival- and I go to quite a few throughout the year. Not only are tickets only £1 each, but there is such a warm atmosphere of community and joy which some other festivals lack…

I arrived in plenty of time and was able to get my bearings and enjoy a quick cuppa before my first event, but the dedicated team behind the festival had obviously been hard at work for quite some time. Last year, the festival was held just on the Saturday, but this year it had expanded to all weekend with school events on either side.

My first event was the wonderful Ross Montgomery. The session I attended was for younger children as his second event based around ‘I am Rebel’ (fantastic book!) clashed with another event. This is the biggest problem with St Austell Lit Fest- there are just so many brilliant sessions to choose from! Ross was marvellous and kept the very young (and considerably older!) members of his audience thoroughly entertained, creating characters and developing stories.

The Festival Hub was bursting with activities for children to enjoy, authors signing books and the wonderful Reading Rocks Bookshop which offered an incredibly tempting range of reading matter! This space was full of excited children queuing to get their books signed and to have a word with their favourite authors- and there were some huge queues! Although I had to choose my sessions carefully to make them fit, there was still plenty of opportunity to have a book signed by the other authors and have a quick chat. I know I have already commented on the atmosphere, but this really was something special.

Next, I went to see Justyn Edwards for a truly magical session which kept the audience on the edge of their seats trying to solve the tricks and illusions he performed! Like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoyed his event and I was very excited to learn that the third book in ‘The Great Fox’ series is coming out later this year!

Next, I headed to a church for a panel event about whales with Chris Vick, Hannah Gold and Jasbinder Bilan. These three passionate, engaging authors gave the audience a quiz to test their whale knowledge, shared plenty of whale facts and each gave a reading from their book. It was such an interesting session- and my first literary festival event held in a church!

Back to the bookshop for more book signing and catching up with more friends. I took Fed Ted with me and everyone was pleased to see him! Although I could only go on the Saturday, other members of the FCBG attended on Sunday and also had a brilliant time. Huge congratulations to the team behind this amazing festival- and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!

You can visit their website here

You can read about last year’s festival here.

India, Incredible India

India is an incredibly diverse, vibrant country, a unique mix of ancient and modern, and this book does an amazing job of conveying the size, variety and richness of this intriguing sub-continent. ‘India, Incredible India’ takes the reader on a journey whilst telling the story of each of the many special objects the Nanijee of a little girl called Thara has in her special trunk.

As Nanijee shares each object, the reader is taken to a beautifully illustrated double page spread which focuses on one location in India. A stamp on a letter reminds Nanijee of the statues created by Nek Chand at the edge of the city of Chandigarh whilst some dice encourage her to tell Thara all about the Indus Valley civilisation. Other objects lead them to places such as the Punjab, West Bengal and Rajasthan- each spread packed with information and evocative illustrations. So many marvels to wonder at and inspire further investigation- or sow the seeds of a desire to travel and explore.

These sections are interspersed with pages focusing on different topics such as sports, food and religious festivals. This is a book which is perfect both for using in school or for having at home, a must have for every library and book corner, offering plenty to discuss and explore. A detailed index makes it an excellent research tool and there is a ‘Find Out More’ section at the end to aid those wanting to extend their knowledge.

I was lucky enough to hear Jasbinder and Nina talk about their book at Cheltenham Literary Festival this year, inspiring young (and older!) readers to find out more about Incredible India!

India, Incredible India

Jasbinder Bilan, illustrated by Nina Chakrabarti

Walker Books ISBN: 978-1406395426