By Gianina Turner: When I was visiting Bath over the summer, I went to Waterstones to buy some new books. That’s when I picked up the Bath Children’s Literature Festival programme and saw the lineup of speakers. While reading more about it, I worked out that the Festival was set up in 2007, which coincides with the year I moved to Bristol.
I’ve been a bit of a bookworm – probably due to my mum being a librarian – and have attended a few book festivals over the years. I decided to register and become a volunteer at Bath Children’s Literature Festival as this is one of the biggest children’s book festivals in the world, and I wanted to be part of it.
The process of registering on the Bath Festivals website was simple and straightforward. Once approved, I was contacted by the Volunteer Manager with information and guidance about the sessions available.
The shift I chose was a free workshop delivered by picture book illustrator Rhian Wright. This was part of the Illustrators’ Cafe series of free family events that took place within Waterstones Bath. On Saturday 5th October, I went for my volunteering shift with my daughter Julia, who was keen to join in with the activities.
To our delight, we were welcomed by Gill McLay, one of the Founders of the Festival, who introduced us to Rhian and gave us our Festival Volunteer T-shirts. Our task was to help with the preparations for the workshop by organising the activity handouts, cutting out star shapes, and sorting out arts and crafts decorations.
During the session, Rhian read out her new picture book ‘My Bright Shining Star’ to a dozen excited children. As they decorated their own stars and went on a treasure hunt to look for star-related clues, I could see how excited they were. The children asked Rhian questions about her illustrations as she talked about her creative process and delivered a short drawing demonstration. At the end, children were able to purchase signed copies of the book, which was written by former athlete Fatima Whitbread.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first volunteering experience at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival and will be keen to return again next year.
To find out more about the Bath Children’s Literature Festival visit https://bathfestivals.org.uk/childrens-literature/. If you are interested in volunteering at the festival, you can email: volunteer@bathfestivals.org.uk
Bath Children’s Literature Festival in numbers:
- In 2024, Bath Children’s Festival celebrated its 17th year.
- More than 16,000 tickets were sold.
- Children from 44 schools attended the Schools Programme.
- More than 80 events.
- 31 events sold out.
- 5 Venues: the National Trust at the Assembly Rooms, The Forum, Bath Cricket Club, Waterstones and Bath Central Library.
- 4 illustrators in residence at the Illustrator Cafes in Waterstones Bath: Alice Tait, Luke Scriven, Conor Busuttil and Rhian Wright.//