Weekender: Sir Chris Hoy to kick off Yorkshire Children’s Festival
The countdown to Yorkshire’s major new Children’s Literature Festival, which is taking place at Broughton Hall, near Skipton this month, is now on.
The festival takes place over four days from Thursday September 27 to Sunday September 30, with school visits from authors across Yorkshire on the first two days and a host of stars from the world of children’s literature speaking at Broughton Hall on the last two days.
More than 65 authors, poets, illustrators, storytellers and animators, including Clare Balding, Sir Chris Hoy, M G Leonard and G P Taylor, will be taking part. Over 200 schools will be involved, reaching out to over 40,000 children across Yorkshire.
The Festival is the brainchild of Trevor Wilson, the managing director of Authors Abroad, the leading organiser of authors’ visits to schools across the world.
It will fulfil Wilson’s life-long dream of bringing some of the biggest names in children’s literature to the idyllic setting of Broughton Hall, home of the Tempest family since the 11th century.
Sir Chris Hoy, one of the UK’s most famous Olympians, launches the festival at Bradford Grammar School on Thursday 27 September at 1.30 pm.
Sir Chris, whose Flying Fergus children’s stories have proved extremely popular, said: “I’ve been to a few literary festivals now and I’ve really enjoyed them. I love the honesty of the kids and their questions and their feedback about the books.
“As a child, I loved cycling and had all kinds of adventures and kids reading the Flying Fergus books will hopefully be inspired to do the same,” said Sir Chris.
Wilson added: “It is a real honour to have Sir Chris as part of our inaugural festival. He is a complete legend – and his Flying Fergus books have captured the imagination of many young readers.
He explained: “I don’t just want to establish a new children’s literature festival in Yorkshire, exciting as that is. My ultimate aim is to make this the biggest festival of its kind in the UK.
“The line-up is very strong already and we will build on this, year on year, as news of the Broughton Hall Children’s Literature Festival spreads and our reputation grows. There has been nothing like this in the north of England, so we have entered uncharted territory, but we are proud of the substantial progress we have made to date.”
The festival is raising money for leading UK mental health charity The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, which was formed by the Waller family after 28-year-old Charlie, a successful advertising executive, took his own life whilst suffering from depression.
