Pics from Saturday 8th May

Art Competition Winners

Our joint winners in the Art Competition received their prizes today on board the Sir Peter Blake Art Bus.

Ollie Keller and Catriona Holden impressed the judges with their inspired designs for a Book Festival brochure.

Congratulations to them both – definitely two young talents to keep an eye on!

Bookfest Weekend is now upon us. We can’t wait for all the exciting events that we have lined up over the next two days.

Even if you haven’t pre-booked there are still lots of talks and workshops which you can get tickets for on the day – see the Events page for current availability. Why not tell your friends and family to come along as well?

See you tomorrow!

The Bookfest Team

Have a Hoot with Holly!

On Saturday 8th May, new author, Holly Clifton Brown will read the story of Annie Hoot, an owl who loves knitting and explores the world looking for appreciative animals.

And, we are delighted to say that it has just been confirmed that Annie herself will make a guest appearance, thanks to her keepers at Linton Zoo.

A gloriously bright funny and unusual book for the youngsters.  Knitting parents and grandparents especially welcome!

Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar

…..Your Dad drives a rusty car, Press the starter, Pull the choke, Off he goes in a cloud of smoke……

With themes ranging from pets, magic, and weather to favouite foods, John has composed poems for every occasion.  Come along and enjoy a session of fizzing wordplay and zany laughs suitable for all the family.

We loved having John at our Festival in 2006 and we are delighted he is returning due to popular demand.  Take the opportunity to come and meet John, who will also be presenting our poetry competition prizes on Saturday 8th May.

Smarty Pants

Experience a new generation of talent with 17 year old Adham Smart, Foyles Bookshop “Young Poet of the Year”.  In these fun and interactive sessions you will play a light hearted version of consequences and learn how poetry can be fun.  If you want poetic inspiration – this young man will provide it!

Adham will also be judging our poetry competition and presenting prizes on Saturday 8th May.

“Birds” has flown to Linton

The inspiration piece of our poetry competition has arrived in Linton, and can be viewed now at The Darryl Nantais Gallery. 

Birds is part of the Paris Quartet which also includes  Eiffel Tower, Four Man Up, and Dancing, Place de la Concorde.

Sir Peter Blake creates his compositions through collage, and in this piece you have  the joyously absurd sight of the Opera Garnier under the weight of an ornithological overload. 

Be inspired to poetry and enter our competition.  Full details here.

Pete Johnson Short Story Competition

HELP, HELP!’ CRIED A VOICE RUSHING TOWARDS ME……..

Pete says…..“Above is the first line of a story and it is up to you what happens next. Maybe this is the start of an exciting adventure story. Or could it be the beginning of a ghostly tale? Maybe someone is trying to escape from … well who? You decide. Or perhaps it is the opening of a funny story or maybe this is the breathless beginning of a tense thriller”.

 Enter this short story competition and you could win a £20 voucher from Amazon, presented to you by Pete Johnson himself.  Further details can be downloaded from our website.

Pete will be with us on Sunday 9th May in a interactive  and funny session on “How to Train your Parents” and will also present prizes to the winners.

The Oldest Poo in the World

Have a good poke around a dinosaur’s droppings and you will discover the most amazing facts!  Just for us geologist and palaeontologist Dr. Liz Hide will forensically examine some of the oldest poo on the planet.

On Sunday 9th May Liz will bring along a selection of fossils from the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge, one of the most important geological collections in the world, to tell you their story.

But you’ll have to be as quick as a Velociraptor, last time Liz’s session at our Book Festival was the first to be snapped up.  Roarrrrr.

Shiny, Happy People

We are delighted to welcome new author Kate Slater to our Festival on Saturday 8th May.

Kate has recently finished her book – Magpie’s Treasure. The story is about Magnus Magpie – a bird with an eye for burglary -  and is illustrated by wonderfully intricate collages.

Magnus steals only the brightest, shiniest, most dazzling things and stashes them secretly in a hollow at the top of his tree. But do all these riches make him happy? It takes a trip to the moon for Magnus to discover that all that glitters is not gold and that true happiness can often be found at home.

Kate will host a drop-in collage-making workshop for us on Saturday afternoon.  Come along and make your own Magpie’s Nest!

Pigs CAN fly

We couldn’t believe it when we heard that the Linton Infant School has done an entire term around the subject Pigs in Planes!  Fate must have brought Paul Cooper to us as his oinkredibly funny new series is about the very same thing.

Think Pigs in Space meets Scooby-Doo with a whole load of Top Gun!  Each book contains games, puzzles and collectible joke cards, with extra cards to download online and share. Pigs in Planes is perfect for fans of Astrosaurs and Cows in Action, appealing to boys and girls alike.

Come and meet Paul on Sunday 9th May.  He will be doing some interactive reading, a quiz, and  telling some toe-curling jokes!  Children will get the chance to consider how stories are put together with a special Cliffhanger Challenge, and can also make their own planes out of paper.  (We are not planning on providing the pigs though!)