Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the Manchester Writing School at MMU are delighted to present the 2014 Manchester Children’s Book Festival. The main Festival programme will run from 26 June to 6 July with over 40 free and ticketed events on offer at venues across the city.
You can find out more, browse the full programme of activities, and book your tickets on the website:
www.mcbf.org.uk or by calling the box office on 0843 208 0500.
The Festival starts with two days of activity celebrating
Multi-cultural Manchester through a variety of exhibitions and taster sessions exploring music, poetry and languages – followed on Saturday 28 June with the FREE
Festival Family Fun Day – a full day of interactive events and activities at Manchester Metropolitan University. The showcase Fun Day event is a special performance from
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre – and you can get involved making your own seawigs and sea monkeys, and join the grand
'Seawigs Parade'.
Throughout the main week of the Festival, there are after school and early evening events all over Manchester including
Guy Bass at the Central Library,
Kate Pankhurst at Waterstones Deansgate,
Justin Somper at the Powerhouse,
Andrew Cope and the People’s History Museum and Chorlton Library,
Liz Kessler at the Portico Library – and
Steve Cole,
Ali Sparkes and
David Almond all appearing at Manchester Metropolitan University, reading from and talking about their books, and meeting readers and answering questions from the audience.
The Festival concludes with a weekend of big events. On Saturday 5 July
Cathy Cassidy will be welcoming guests to a vintage afternoon tea with the
Chocolate Box Girls at the Midland Hotel,
Michael Morpurgo will be at MMU for a special performance of
Private Peaceful, and
Darren Shan will also be at MMU for an evening event showcasing his
Zom-B series. On Sunday 6 July,
Tom Palmer will be launching his new book
Over the Line with a dual-venue event at the National Football Museum and IWM North – and Poet Laureate
Carol Ann Duffy hosts the official Festival closing event: musical afternoon tea at the Townhouse Hotel – with special prizes to be won in a book quiz.
There are also lots of ways to get involved ahead of and during the Festival with Trailblazer arts and crafts activities and International Reading and Writing Relay, as well as an extended programme of workshops in schools, with many free and subsidised places offered to groups on projects such as
Tweets from the Trenches,
Migrating Passions,
Mother Tongue Other Tongue, Comic Smart and Walking in their Shoes: Responding to Anne Frank.
You can find out more, browse the full programme of activities, and book your tickets on the website:
www.mcbf.org.uk or by calling the box office on 0843 208 0500.
