The Gala Day on 22nd November at Newcastle Civic Centre is the culmination of a fortnight of activities held in the name of the festival, between 10th and 21st November.
34 authors and illustrators will attend events in schools and libraries across the North East, reaching up to 20, 000 of the region’s children.
This free event is the largest annual reading celebration for young people in Europe and the Gala Day will give children the opportunity to meet 10 of their favourite authors and illustrators, bringing the world of books to life via interactive sessions held throughout the day. The fabulous line up includes: Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore, Steve Weatherill, Korky Paul, Debi Gliori, Julia Donaldson, Steve Cole, Julia Golding, Liz Million, Jeremy Strong, David Almond and Nick Butterworth.
This year is the National Year of Reading and to coincide with November’s theme of Screen Reads there will be an amazing selection of craft activities. There will be a fantastic bookshop selling titles by these authors as well as many other popular titles.
The Tyneside Cinema will be joining in on the fun by putting on workshops and showing a film. Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books and the Literary & Philosophical Society will also be hosting activities. It is proposed that a shuttle bus is provided to transport visitors to and from these venues.
