_ The Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton will be holding its first literary festival this April.The festival has a wonderfully varied programme with over fifty authors getting involved, and plenty for both readers and aspiring writers. Highlights will include appearances from Prue Leith, Joanna Trollope and Colin Dexter and a workshop on writing sex scenes! Of particular interest to me is the Contemporary Women’s Fiction event, which will feature some of my favourite authors: Katie Fforde, Veronica Henry and Jill Mansell.

There’ll also be plenty of free events held in the Town Hall including readings, Scrabble games, a book exchange and a children’s corner. You’ll even have the chance to meet authors and publishers or just relax and catch up on your reading with a cup of tea.

Full details of the festival’s events can be found at www.chiplitfest.com. Tickets can be bought from this website, or from the box office by calling 01608 642350, and are priced from £7.50.

The festival has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ChipLitFest?sk=info

Maybe I’ll see you there!

Children’s author Francesca Simon will be taking part in this year’s World Book Day celebrations in a special live broadcast on Thursday 1st March.  She’ll be discussing her life as a writer as well as her most famous character the gloriously awful Horrid Henry. The event is suitable for ages 5-12 (and fans of Horrid Henry of any age!).

The event will be streamed live to audiences across the UK at 11am on World Book Day (Thursday, 1st March). It will then become available to watch again for free by Thursday, 8th March. To watch, simply follow this link:http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors-live-with-francesca-simon.  

As well as the very successful Horrid Henry series, Francesca has also written other titles such as ‘Don’t Cook Cinderella’ and ‘Helping Hercules’. A s huge Horrid Henry fans, Christopher and I were thrilled to hear Francesca Simon speak at the Hay Literature Festival a couple of years ago, she was absolutely fantastic: very funny and entertaining. We’ll definitely be tuning into this broadcast!

Scotland’s National Poet Liz Lochhead will be celebrating Robert Burns and her own poetry in a live broadcast to children around the world during a special Robert Burns celebration on Thursday 26 January at 11am. The Scottish Friendly Meet Our Authors Special Event, run by Scottish Book Trust, will be streamed live from BBC Scotland in Glasgow and available after to watch again for free from the Scottish Book Trust website. The broadcast will be most suited to children aged 9-16 and any fan of Scottish poetry.

You can watch the event by following this link: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors-live-with-liz-lochhead.   

Previous Scottish Book Trust events have featured authors such as Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo, Julia Donaldson, Eoin Colfer, Jacqueline Wilson, David Almond and many more. You can stream or download any of these events for free here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/childrens-authors-live/2010-11.