About the festival

Some of the brightest, most exciting names in writing and illustrating for children will be gathering in Woodbridge this autumn for the Woodbridge Children's Book Festival.

Shops, businesses, schools and libraries will all be hosting events throughout October, culminating in a festival weekend on 24-26 October where star guests will be invited to give author talks, storytelling sessions, workshops and performances. Organised by Woodbridge Town Centre Management, there is keen interest from the local schools who will be hosting readings and workshops.

"We  know that Woodbridge is a great town for all the family to enjoy and we thought this would be a good way to highlight what we have to offer to visitors while also creating a real buzz among the local community," said Marion Wells, Woodbridge Town Centre Coordinator who has initiated the project. "Woodbridge boasts a number of independent bookshops, including one dedicated to children's books. We are very grateful for all the support and enthusiasm this event has attracted."

There will be a story trail through the town, and storytellers will be located from the riverside to the top of the hill at a variety of venues, bringing stories to life for children of all ages, and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles too!

Competitions will be running throughout the year leading up to the festival weekend and, with the East Anglian Daily Times as a media partner for the festival, there will be news of the programme as it is announced.

National Year of Reading  The Woodbridge Children's Book Festival is supporting the 2008 National Year of Reading. Activities are taking place throughout the year in the library, schools and bookshops in Woodbridge while the Festival's theme of storytelling echoes that promoted by the National Year of Reading in October: Word of Mouth. Click here to find out more about this national initiative.

About Woodbridge

Woodbridge is a riverside market town in the county of Suffolk. It is approximately 10 miles north-east of Ipswich just off the A12 between Ipswich and Lowestoft. Trains connect Woodbridge with London Liverpool St station via Ipswich. The journey time is about 1 hr 40 minutes. Click here for more information about Woodbridge, or see this map showing Woodbridge and the surrounding area.

More info about Suffolk

For more information about Suffolk, see the Suffolk Tourist Guide - The Guide for all your tourist information needs in Suffolk, including What's On, Events, Festivals, Days Out and Things to Do.