Children’s Book Festival

A four-day programme of events and activities featuring some of today's favourite children's writers, illustrators, books and characters is taking place at Manchester Metropolitan University's city centre campus from Thursday 1 July to Sunday 4 July.

Aimed at everyone who has ever loved children's books, the festival features vampires, comic books, multi-lingual story tents, dinosaurs, picnics, tales of magic and science and more.

Aimed at everyone who has ever loved children's books, the festival features vampires, comic books, multi-lingual story tents, dinosaurs, picnics, tales of magic and science and more. Writers will include Michael Rosen, Jeanette Winterson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Melvin Burgess, Gillian Clarke, Dai Owen and Liz Kessler.

Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate and creative director at the University’s Writing School, says the festival is about inspiring young people and firing their imaginations.

She said: "As children, our imaginary worlds need feeding and in a profound way. Words on a page can do that more than say, a movie, because the film is doing the pictures for you. But with reading you have to use your own imagination and I think children love that.

"For me children are also the best poets because the way they see the world is so fresh. That’s what poetry needs."

Duffy herself provides one of the highlights of the festival, performing The Princess Blankets alongside musician John Sampson. It's part of a Family Fun Day on Saturday 3 July at the Geoffrey Manton Building on Oxford Road (opposite the Aquatics Centre).

The festival also features Twitter critics (micro-reviews of performances by schoolchildren from Chorlton High and Newall Green High), the International Festival Readathon, and a Gala Dinner at the Midland Hotel with proceeds going to the NSPCC and MMU’s outreach projects in Manchester schools.

Visitors can pay on the door for all events, but you're advised to pre-book ticketed events to avoid disappointment.

Click here for full programme and to book tickets.