Visiting Stroud's Museum in the Park on the 8th July is Oxfordshire based author Linda Newbery, an award winning writer, teacher and champion of the natural world. She is coming to support the first Stroud Children’s Festival, a weekend of events being held at the museum, to coincide with the Stroud Festival of Nature weekend and will be talking about her magical, green man story; Lob.
Lob, published by Random House, was nominated for five awards and was described by Kevin Crossly-Holland at the Philippa Pearce Lecture as “...imbued with a deep sense of the passage of the seasons. It’s a sort-of love song to imagining, understanding, and therefore breathing and living in the harmony with the natural world, and I wholeheartedly commend it.”
This family event, which starts at 2pm, is for children aged seven plus, and costs just £2 per child. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in the mysterious, the natural world, and who maybe has a yearn to write. Not only is Linda an award winning author for both adults and children, she has also taught adult writers as well as children, and has even written a book about it - Writing Children’s Fiction: A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion. From her picture book, Posy, to her Radio Two Book Club choice, Missing Rose, she covers all ages and is both accessible and inspirational.
Linda’s first novel was Run with the Hare, a young adult title about a girl who becomes involved with an Animal Rights group. She has been passionate about animal welfare, and a vegetarian, for many years.Set in Stone, a Victorian Gothic novel won the Costa Children’s Book Prize in 2006 and was also published as a novel for adults. She has also written extensively for children, including Nevermore, The Treasure House and The Brockenspectre.
Stroud is full of grown-ups who write. I wonder how many will be suggesting this Saturday afternoon session to their children, so they can accompany them, to pick up some tips themselves? No doubt they will be most welcome!
Visit lindanewbery.co.uk for further information and stroudfestival.org for the Stroud Children's Festival programme.
Cindy Jefferies is a author with twenty four books for children in print in more than a dozen languages. She was the artistic director of the children's part of the first Stroud Book Festival in 2016, is working on the Children's Festival, and enjoys promoting others rather than herself...cindyjefferies.co.uk