Bath Spa University and writers associated with it are making a big contribution to this year's Bath Children's Literature Festival, which starts on Friday September 19.
The University, whose creative writing courses are among the best in the country, is sponsoring the festival's special opening night event at the Guildhall in Bath. Children's Laureate and poet Michael Rosen talks about his life and career in conversation with Sam Leith, literary editor of the Daily Telegraph.
On Monday September 22 teaching staff and published authors from Bath Spa University's MA courses in Writing for Young People and Creative Writing will share some of their latest work with an audience, also at the Guildhall. They include Bath Spa graduates Sally Nicholls, whose first novel Ways to Live Forever won the 2008 Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and Ally Kennen, whose debut novel Beast also gained widespread critical acclaim.
The Writing for Young People event will be chaired by Bath Spa Course Leader Julia Green, who is a member of the festival committee. She has written three novels herself for children and young adults, Blue Moon, Baby Blue and Hunter's Heart. On Tuesday September 23 Julia is visiting Hayesfield Girls School in Bath to give a talk about her own fiction and to lead a Creative Writing workshop.
Another of Bath Spa's Writing for Young People graduates, Marie-Louise Jensen, whose debut novel for teenagers Between Two Seas was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize, will be visiting Somervale School in Midsomer Norton on Wednesday September 24 to meet some of its pupils.
Many other current and former students from the Bath Spa University creative writing courses will be working as volunteer stewards at events throughout the festival.
The Festival Director, John McLay, is a part-time lecturer on Bath Spa's Writing for Young People course. He says ticket sales for the ten-day festival are up on last year, when it was held for the first time.
Julia Green said: "Bath Spa University is really delighted to be supporting this fabulous festival for children, which is all about the pleasures of reading. We are especially pleased that poetry for young people has a higher profile during the festival this year."
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