Book Festival to get under way

The overriding theme of this year’s festival is about inspiring young minds to be creative, to challenge them with exciting new activities and master classes and enjoy words by celebrating them in both the written and spoken format.

Joanna Hughes, festival co-ordinator said: "By focusing on our ethos of inspiring children to develop a life-long love of reading, we have prepared a very special May Festival programme, designed to offer lots of fun, hands-on and interactive activities for them to enjoy.

"With a whole range of exciting events designed to get right to the very heart of what books are all about, we hope children will relish lots of opportunities not only to listen and learn, but also to create their own literary magic. There are carefully researched workshops which will give your children the chance to create their very own masterpiece. And soft skills such as creative thinking sit side-by- side with expert model-making tuition – all with a touch of humour, originality and, most important of all, fun."

A highlight of the festival weekend is a children’s theatre group who will be running interactive and inventive drama workshops, inspired by Roald Dahl’s extraordinary stories, to develop both creative and literacy skills through performance, games and creative play.

There is also a whole day of free, drop-in, book-related activities in the centre of Shrewsbury and a wonderful Bookfest Quest that will take you on a winding trail through the town to spot artwork created by local primary schools.

On Saturday there will be a variety of literature related activities in The Square in Shrewsbury. These activities in The Square are free to children and their families and friends to take part in and enjoy. Plus, there will be a treasure trail winding its way throughout the town with giant letter artwork especially created by 16 local primary schools leading participants to a secret message.

On Sunday there will be a comic workshop with the Etherington Brothers creators of Long Gone Don, Monkey Nuts, Freaky and Fearless, Baggage, and Von Doogan.

There will also be Early Man model making workshop with Aardman, a creative writing master class with Christopher Edge and Elmer the Elephant storytelling with Liz Fost.

The festival rounds off on Bank Holiday Monday with Dinosaurs Galore with Sir Charlie Stinky Socks by Kristina Stephenson and Join the World of Olobob Top.

For full information on these events and how to book visit shrewsburybookfest.co.uk