Thousands of children will come together over the next 4 weeks to celebrate the joy of stories, in all their many forms, at this year's Beeline Storytelling Festival for Children, hosted and organised by the University of Worcester.
This will be the 10th year of the Festival, which brings some of the Country's leading storytellers, authors, illustrators, and performers to the City. A record 4,500 children, from across Herefordshire and Worcester are expected to take part this year.
Former Children's Laureate and two-time Carnegie Prize winner, Anne Fine, is returning to the Festival for the second time this year. She was last at the Festival five years ago and drew an impressive crowd.
Organiser Steve Boffy said: "We are delighted that Anne Fine has agreed to come back this year. She was fantastic back in 2011 and the children coming along to her shows this year are in for a real treat."
Also in the line-up for this year's festival, which will take place from Saturday, 8th October until Saturday 5th November, is poet, broadcaster and comedian, Ian McMillan, and Cartoonist of the Year Tony Husband, who will perform together; authors Alan Gibbons and Chloe Inkpen, and professional storyteller Daniel Morden.
Popular storytellers Peter Chand, Cat Weatherill and Sally Tonge are also returning to the Festival, plus there will be performances from Lempen Puppet Theatre, Open Sky Ahead and illustration sessions with Nobrow.
Schools across Herefordshire and Worcestershire were invited to attend the Festival and with such high demand, extra sessions have been scheduled.
As part of the Festival there will be family storytelling sessions at The Hive each Saturday, which
are open to all. No tickets are required.
Mr Boffy said: "The Festival celebrates storytelling in all its forms, creating fun, inspirational, experiences for schoolchildren from across the two counties and we are proud to now be in our 10th year of delivering this event. Each year, as well as the schoolchildren, we involve hundreds of University of Worcester students, from trainee teachers to those studying drama and theatre, who gain real-world experience of either hosting an event or learning how to incorporate storytelling into the classroom."
The Festival has grown from the University's strong academic and community connections with children's storytelling and literature and over the last decade has welcomed many great authors, storytellers, illustrators and theatre companies including Jacqueline Wilson, Carol Anne Duffy, Michael Rosen, Jane Ray, Liz Pichon, and Kevin Crossley Holland.