Hay Fever

I can't believe it's that time of year again. Yes, the wonderful Hay Festival is upon us again, and with it 'Hay Fever', its equally wonderful children's programme.

I'm delighted to be chairing three events this year, which are as follows:

• Saturday 23rd May at 2:30pm in the Oxfam Studio: Julia Donaldson and Jenny Valentine, talking about teen reads;
• Tuesday 26th May at 1pm on the Dream Stage: John Fardell and Tanya Landman talking about writing crime for children; and
• Thursday 28th May at 2:30pm in the Barclays Wealth Pavilion: Michael Morpurgo and Jamila Gavin talking about the stories they've written for Free, a new anthology commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Fun! (A lot of extra reading to add to the already tottering pile tho'...)

Other children's/teen writers I'm looking forward to seeing at this Hay Fever include...

Patrick Ness, Philip Ardagh, Cressida Cowell, Caroline Lawrence, Shaun Tan, Jackie Morris, Julia Golding, David Gilman, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell, Celia Rees, Jo Nadin, Sally Gardner, Ed Vere and Roger McGough! And Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz, Jeremy Strong, Andy Stanton! And Cornelia Funke! And more...

Do hope to see you there.

D.

PS Not really within the UBG remit, but (while I'm plugging events) just to mention I'm also speaking twice more at festivals in the next couple of months: talking about translation on June 20th in the London Review of Books 'World Literature Weekend' in the British Museum; and about The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland at the Ways with Words festival in Dartington on July 12th. (In case anyone's interested...)