The Federation of Children’s Book Groups are presenting a simply extraordinary one day festival in Birmingham THIS SATURDAY November 9th, celebrating their receipt of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.
There, you can meet: Michael Morpurgo, Emma Chichester-Clark, David Almond… and ME!
I’ll be running a workshop for youngsters about painting and illustrating to music. And afterwards, I’ll be presenting a truly fabulous concert with live performances by superb young musicians from the Birmingham Conservatoire. They’ll be performing an enchanting yet little known score by Benjamin Britten, written as incidental music for “The Sword in the Stone“, T H White’s gorgeous King Arthur novel (and inspiration for both the Disney film and the musical “Camelot”). It was one of my sister’s favourite books as a child – the same sister who inspired the Katie books! She read me a passage which she found hilarious, and read it with such relish that I, too, became hooked.
The book follows the basic story outline of Morte d’Arthur, but in decidedly early 20th century language. There are passages of enormous wit; others of surpassing beauty. I will be reading some favourite extracts and talking about the book, weaving words around sections of the music as part of the concert; above all, I’ll be illustrating live on stage as the music is played.
Children who have grown up with the BBC’s bizarrely mixed up version of the Merlin and King Arthur legends will be in for a few surprises. I will also be talking about my family connection to Benjamin Britten whose centenary this month is celebrated with this unique and magical event. The Sword in the Stone concert is at 1pm in the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire.
This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and be inspired by some fabulous people. And the concert is also a great way to excite young people about the storytelling inside music. If you are in the Midlands, with young children, this is a day you can’t afford to miss!
Oh, and DO buy raffle tickets – then you could win one of the illustrations I sketch during the performance!
To book tickets for the Sword in the Stone concert, click on the link below:
http://www.birmingham-box.co.uk/event/festival-of-childrens-literature-james-mayhew-and-/
and for more information about the festival, visit the website here:
http://www.fcbg.org.uk/festival-of-childrens-literature/
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