Authors at Stratford literature festival

Authors, illustrators and storytellers will be working together to present the fourth annaual festival of children’s literature at the Discover Children’s Story Centre next month.

The Big Write will start on World Book Day, March 1 and continue until March 9.

The 50 strong event line up will include the UK’s bestselling children’s authors and illustrators including Michael Rosen, Micheal De Souza and Genevieve Webster (Rastamouse), Nick Sharratt (illustrator Tracy Beaker), David Roberts (Dirty Bertie), Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon), Ed Vere (The Getaway), Guy Parker-Rees (Giraffes Can’t Dance) and Jeanne Willis (Talking with Dinosaurs).

This celebration of children’s literature will be for the smallest of babies with hands-on sessions in a Story Yurt to industry professional led events for adults wanting to break into the world of writing for children. Amongst the traditional author/illustrator events there will be the last chance to explore Discover’s monster town Welcome to Monsterville exhibition, make fancy dress monster costumes and attend a disco with DJ Monster Beats spinning 1950s monster themed songs.

To tie in with the festival Discover is running a series of workshops for local schools with authors dropping in to lead hands-on writing events. Children will have the opportunity to work with award winning author Jeremy Strong and a chance to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tarzan with Andy Briggs the author of a modern retelling of this classic story.

Admission to the Big Write at Discover Children’s Story Centre, Stratford, is �6.50 for children �7 for adults.