Special Guest Northern Highlight - Chorlton Book Festival
Tell us a bit about Chorlton Book Festival.
Chorlton Book Festival is a joyous, annual celebration of books, reading and writing. Now in its seventeenth year, it’s become a regular fixture in Manchester’s cultural calendar. We pride ourselves on championing local writers, authors and publishers. “Something for everyone” is a cliché, we know, but we offer a programme with events, from under-fives’ story sessions to intergenerational work with community elders. We have literary quizzes, history walks and talks, poetry slams, author visits, creative activities, workshops, a children’s book award and plenty of family fun.
In its early days, the festival was organised by Manchester Libraries, but has since grown to become very much rooted in its local community. Our library service is still the driving force, but supported by an active steering group with representation from schools, businesses, writers and local residents.
What unique qualities does being in Chorlton bring to the Festival?
Chorlton is a suburb of South Manchester, rather than a town in its own right, but that doesn’t stop us from having a distinctive and vibrant creative and literary scene, as well as a buzzing cultural and social calendar. We have an excellent local branch library; an independent bookshop on our high street and a fantastic, thriving local theatre and arts centre - The Edge Theatre.
Manchester has many diverse literary riches we can call upon: we have lots of high-profile local authors, poets, scientists, storytellers and historians. We’d like to think that we not only offer an outlet for established writers, but also help new ones to gain exposure.
One of our festival’s particular strengths has always been crime fiction – specifically that set in Manchester and the Northwest – with author visits and panel discussions, including Rachel Abbott, Caroline England, Chris Simms, Cath Staincliffe and many more.
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| Caroline England 2019 Festival |
We have wonderful levels of engagement from Chorlton’s primary and high schools, and organise author workshops and class visits, both inside and outside school settings. Our Children’s Book Award, for Key Stage 3 and transitioning children, is always a huge success, with pupils across the area choosing their favourite reads from a shortlist.
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| Marie Basting in school at the 2019 Festival |
When is your next festival scheduled?
The 2021 Festival opens on Friday 17th and runs until Sunday 26th September. Our full programme is at chorltonbookfestival.co.uk
Can you share details of your children’s programme yet?
We have lots going on for children of all ages! We begin with Liz Kessler, who’ll be talking to Year 8 school audiences about her latest book, When the World Was Ours. A.M. Dassu joins us for a thought-provoking virtual session, talking about her middle-grade novel, Boy, Everywhere.
We’ll see the return of our much-missed family fun days with two sessions in the library, the first with author Sally Penni and fabulous unicorn-themed creative activities
The hilarious Matt Goodfellow will be bursting into primary schools across Chorlton with his live performance, action poetry and lots of audience participation and there’ll be plenty of storytime silliness for the under-fives.
Do you have a favourite children's book event from the Festival across the years?
That’s a tough one: we’ve had so many! Among our favourites are the amazing under-fives sessions with Artful Playground. Packed with stories, songs and live music.
We also love our famous Family Fun Days: full days of book-themed games, crafts and workshops, all designed for families to enjoy together. When the performance poet Dominic Berry gave us a show, it was totally nuts and so high-energy that we needed a lie-down afterwards!
Going virtual for 2020 was strange, but Nathan Byron (Look Up and Clean Up) was just brilliant. A former actor, his performance skills shone through as he read to children
And don’t get us started on how much we LOVE Nick
Sharratt! It’s wonderful to see children so excited by reading, drawing and
sharing stories.
We’ve also had memorable events addressing more serious subjects, and engaging with older age groups and young adults, but we never tire of seeing children having a really good laugh!
What are your favourite children's books set in the North?
Books in the plural, so here we go! We love The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (a Manchester author, although the novel is set in Yorkshire) – it’s an absolute classic, so full of hope.
We also love Jiddy Vardy, by another Manchester author, Ruth Estevez. It’s an action-packed YA tale of smugglers in Robin Hood’s Bay (yes, Yorkshire again).
We love Skellig by David Almond and pretty much anything by Frank Cottrell Boyce.
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| Ruth Estevez at the 2018 Festival |
How can the creative industries in the North better support and encourage children’s writers and illustrators?
Luckily, we have many creative industries in the North who already support local children’s writers and illustrators. Manchester also holds many festivals which support writers and illustrators, and who love hearing from anyone who feels they would like to take part.
Children’s Books North is a supportive, networking group for children’s writers and illustrators, which shares opportunities as well as networking and friendly events.
The Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators (SCBWI) has a very active North-West branch which holds monthly critique groups as well as organising workshops and opportunities.
There is also a Northern based Golden Egg North Academy for children’s writers which offer courses, mentorships and workshops to hone writing skills.
There are many other companies and groups as well, supporting all writers, as well as Northern based publishers specialising in children’s fiction, such as UCLan Publishing, ZunTold and Hachette Children’s group has recently opened an office in the North too.
It seems we have all we need, with specialist children’s diverse booksellers such as Mirror Me Write as well, but there is always room for more. With so many northern based writers and illustrators, with voices that represent often under-represented authors with diverse dialects, locations and experiences, creative industries can only continue to be creative in finding, encouraging and guiding them. Perhaps what is needed, are more northern based agents!
Many thanks for this opportunity, from all at the Chorlton Book Festival.
Find out more about Chorlton Book Festival on Twitter and Instagram and at their website Home | chorltonbookfestival
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