LEISURE: Fab day of book fun lined up for children as part of Ilminster Literary Festival

ILMINSTER book lovers will be looking forward to the launch of the town’s second-ever Literary Festival later this year and organisers are planning a fab day of writing, story-telling and illustrating for children.

The organising committee has been hard at it for the last 12 months and now the 2017 festival is just a mere eight weeks away.

Such was the buzz generated by last year’s event that several new members have come forward to help take on the myriad tasks that will ensure the event is once again a resounding success.

Whilst activities for a wide cross section of the local community are planned, children - and their parents - can look forward to an action-packed day on Saturday, June 3, 2017, as they enthusiastically anticipate the return of popular author Petr Horacek. This is a really fun time as Petr draws illustrations whilst he is talking.

PHOTO – TOP: Pictured (from left) are author Victoria Everleigh; author and illustrator Petr Horacek; author Martin Hill; and crime writer Damien Boyd who will be leading a creative writing workshop and writing competition for young people in Ilminster on June 3.

PHOTO – RIGHT: Four-year-old Felix getting stuck into a good book in readiness for this year’s Ilminster Literary Festival.

One young fan Clemmie, aged seven, said: "I enjoyed it very much last year and really liked hearing Petr's funny stories. Please can we go again this year?”

There will be a creative writing workshop and writing competition, led by crime writer Damien Boyd, at Ilminster Town Football Club’s Archie Gooch Pavilion, for three different age groups from 6–18 years, and later in the day, at Sweet Surprise, Richard Godden will be holding a children’s illustrating workshop.

At lunchtime, children will all pop over to Ilminster Bookshop to meet author Martin Hill who will be signing copies of his book A Tiger in my Bed, which was inspired by his real life adventures with big cats.

Children get to finish their exciting day with Victoria Everleigh, author of Katy’s Ponies, at Sweet Surprise. Her first stories were about a girl called Katy and a pony called Trifle growing up together on Exmoor.

To be sure to get your tickets, look out for the programme, available all over town, or visit ilminsterliteraryfestival.org for more details.

Ilminster Literary Festival 2017 runs from Wednesday, May 31, 2017, to Thursday, June 8, 2017.

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