On June 5th, us bookworms in the North got to enjoy the first ever Wirral Kids Book Fest, hosted by Bear Hunt Books with the help of Wirral Unplugged. As soon as I found out the festival was happening, I knew I had to sign up as a volunteer! I've never been able to travel to a book festival before, so with one happening right on my doorstep I was determined to help out as much as I could.
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| i helped arrange the tables of books we had for sale on the day and of course i created a little Heartstopper section |
The festival took place in the fabulous Bloom Building in Birkenhead, with the profits from food and drink bought on the day going to the mental health charities that the building works with.
The first slot for the day was a reading of Fantastic Frankie by Jess Rose. I was the not-so-glamorous assistant who turned the pages! We then had some activities for the children, alone with some balloon creations for them to play with.
The next event was for Tsunami Girl by Julian Sedgwick, who gave a fascinating talk about the place and people that inspired the story. I also ended up being the person who volunteered for his little trick at the end! The talk got me super interested in the story so I purchased a copy of the book and got it signed afterwards.
The next event for the day was a joint talk with Vasti Hardy and James Nicol. They set up a table filled with props that connections to their books, and invited people up to select one. It was fun to hear about what inspired their characters and stories.
We ended the day with a chat from neurodiverse author Emily Kenny, talking about her debut novel The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks. There was a fun section at the end for people to create their own hero or villain for a story.
I'm so glad I decided to volunteer. As anxious as I am, I was less of a mess than I expected to be so I'm proud of myself for being able to help out. It's exciting to finally be having book events close to home, and I can't wait for next year!
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