Children’s Programme
The 2013 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Children’s Programme is now online – you can download it as a PDF or view it on the online Festival Programme Schedule.
Children’s Sessions – Heroes, Villains and Chocolate
We have some fantastic children’s authors coming this year, and a greater variety of Things To Do than ever before. In fact, so much is going on that it has spilled over from the weekend into Thursday evening, at one point strictly the preserve of Terribly Grown-Up Things, but now featuring workshops on writing fiction in Arabic and English, writing non-fiction, and even making your own pop-up book! There is also a talk & reading by French superstar children’s author Dominique de Saint-Mars, and a chocolatey cookery demonstration from Willie Harcourt-Cooze.
On Friday 8 March, Roger McGough’s Imaginary Menagerie and Giles Andreae’s Tales of Happiness start a day that, before it is over, will also see Nick Arnold introduce the Heroes and Villains of Horrible Science, Philip Ardagh’s Goodies and Baddies, Suzanne Jankowski’s Animals Galore, Miracles of Paper Engineering with Robert Crowther, and Geraldine McCaughrean creating a new story on stage and asking – who are you calling a villain?
Saturday 9 March begins with Korky Paul’s Read and Draw and Maitha Al Khayat letting you know just what to do when a camel comes calling. Before long, Debi Gliori’s Mr Wolf and Mennah Ibrahim’s Little Moslems will be along to join the fun, and John Connelly will introduce older readers to the secrets of the Book of Lost Things. Taghreed Najjar has Rhymes to Share, Sahar Mahfouz will introduce you to My Sister, My Heroine and Tony Buzan will demonstrate how to Mind Map Your Marvellous Mind. And the Children’s Programme will close with Noura Al Noman talking about Creating Worlds and Anthony Horowitz revealing the Final Chapter of The Power of Five.
Popping Up to the LitFest for Some Workshops
There are also plenty of workshops and masterclasses suitable for children and teenagers, and a few that are open to all ages. Have a browse of the list below, but do take note that some have age or language requirements to take part!
Robert Crowther’s Pop-Up Book workshops for ages 5-7 (Thursday, 4pm) and 8-12 (Friday, 11:30am), both in English
Nick Arnold: Stories That Are True (Thursday, 4pm, English, Ages 8-Adult)
Micheline Habib: How to Write a Short Story (Thursday, 4pm, Arabic, Ages 12-16)
Geraldine McCaughrean: The Great Story Recipe Book (Thursday, 4pm, English, Ages 9-12)
Lea Sellers: How to be a TV News Producer (Thursday, 5:30pm, English, Ages 14-21)
Geeta Chhabra: A Mirror of Poems (Friday, 10am, English, Ages 8-11)
Samineh Shaheem: Bolt Down Bullying (Friday, 3pm, English, All Ages)
Fiona Lindsay: Telling Tales, Bringing Stories to Life – a Practical Theatre Workshop (Saturday, English, 10am, Ages 10+)
Anne Love: Greening Your Garden (Saturday, 11:30am, English, Ages 12-Adult)
Frank Dullaghan: Putting Pictures into Poems (Saturday, 1pm, English, Ages 15-18)
Mark Cockram: Bookbinding Masterclass (Saturday, 1pm, English, Ages 15-Adult)
Barry Cunningham: What Makes a Great Children’s Writer? (Saturday, 5pm, English, Ages 12-Adult)
The Time Out Kids’ Zone
There’s all kinds of free fun for the discerning young festivalgoer to be had at the Time Out Kids’ Zone – find out all about it here!
The Penguin Fringe
Local schools and performance groups have been hard at work rehearsing to take part in the Emirates LitFest Fringe, which this year is now sponsored by top publisher Penguin, who have also created a fantastic outdoor area called the Penguin Reading Garden.
All the details for Friday and Saturday’s Fringe events can be found here and here.
All Penguin Fringe events are free of charge.
Crossing Over
Maybe you want to enjoy a few of the events we have deemed part of the ‘adult programme’. Well, why not? While we can’t guarantee that any particular session intended for adults will be interesting or suitable to younger festivalgoers, here are a few that might be of interest to young adults who want a taste of the wider festival experience:
Barry Cunningham: Dahl, Spike, JK & Me
The man who signed JK Rowling and Cornelia Funke and founded independent children’s publisher Chicken House has a lot of stories to tell about his 30 years in the business, and the authors he has met.
Jeffery Deaver & Anthony Horowitz: Rebooting Sherlock & 007
Two top authors discussing two iconic heroes – what more needs to be said?
Noura Al Noman & Alan Dean Foster: Sci-Fi Crossing Continents
Noura has just published her first YA science fiction novel, while Alan has a long career writing both his own original novels and novelisations and screenplays for major franchises such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien. Two groundbreaking authors from entirely different backgrounds share their passion for telling stories.
