The Imagine Children's Festival at the Southbank Centre, London is an annual Children’s Literature Festival. This year the nine-day festival in February was sponsored by the The Book People and offered a huge range of readings, storytelling, poetry, stand-up comedy and exhibitions, to get children into reading.
Letterbox Club events at the festival included From Pip to Potter with patron Lemn Sissay and founder Rose Griffiths, and Lyrical Letterboxes with Roger McGough and Jackie Kay.
The festival closed with a Gala Dinner held by The Book People to celebrate children's literature. It was a gathering of children’s authors, illustrators, publishers and poets, and everyone invited was asked to bring along a copy of a favourite book to donate to a child in care via Letterbox Club and Volunteer Reading Help.
At Booktrust we now have a wonderful collection of 168 donated books, each with a handwritten message from the donor explaining what makes the book special to them. Michael Morpugo, Lisa Faulkner (pictured, right), Nick Clegg, Brenda Emmanus and Quentin Blake are among those who kindly donated.
Local authorities currently subscribed to Letterbox Club are invited to request these books to use as gifts for their looked-after children. These books will make fantastic prizes at the Looked-After Children Awards, held each year to celebrate special achievements of children in care. Books will be issued on a first come first serve basis. For more information about what is available and to submit your request please email Leanne Cobb, or call on 020 8516 2993, stating the number of children, age range and preferred delivery date.
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