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.

All Aboard the Pop Art Bus

Linton is now officially on the route of the Sir Peter Blake Art Bus , which will be on time to visit all four Linton Schools for the 2010 Linton Children’s Book Festival. 

We were very excited when we learned today that this double decker will be loaded from wheels to roof exclusively with Sir Peter Blake’s Art including some of his very rare pieces. 

This is one Bus you must not miss!

Be inspired by Sir Peter Blake’s work and enter our Design an Album (or CD ) cover competition.  Prizes will be presented at The Darryl Nantais Gallery on Friday 7th May, and all entries will be on display at the Book Festival.  Good Luck!

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!)