Preston to host two literary festivals for youngsters

Young literary fans are set for a bumper day of fun as two festivals take place at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

Authors and publishing professionals will be returning to Preston for the Northern Young Adult Literary Festival (NYALitFest) and the Kids’ Literary Festival (KIDSLitFest) on Saturday 22 July.

Throughout the NYALitFest, a variety of panels, workshops and activities will offer advice on how to get into the publishing industry, explain how the process works from concept to publication, and discuss how to create different worlds and suspense when writing about sinister goings on in young adult fiction.

There are also special sessions that will offer advice on writing rom-coms and explain how writing about the big issues in life, and finding a path to self-acceptance, will help the quality of authors’ work.

In addition, prospective authors can bring along their CVs and get one-to-one career advice on how to get their foot in the door.

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The KIDSLitFest, aimed at children aged seven to 12, features a variety of guest speakers. Lucy Ann Unwin, author of The Octopus, Dadu and Me, will lead a session where youngsters can create their own comics based on animals they know.

Liz Flanagan will describe how she drew on her own experience of fostering cats and her love of wild places when writing her Wildsmith series while Daniel Dockery will get the children to look at stories from both the hero and villains’ points of view.

Poet and author Dom Conlon will talk about how his love of astronomy has helped his writing while Emma Finlayson-Palmer, author of the Autumn Moonbeam series, will be running a magical witchcraft session.

Hazel Homes, Head of UCLan Publishing, said: “This is the fifth NYALitFest and, despite not receiving Arts Council Funding this year, we are absolutely delighted to be able to bring this fantastic event, along with the returning KIDSLitFest to audiences in the north.

“We’ve had great support from other publishers to enable a smaller programme and we’re really looking forward to welcoming readers back to campus in the summer.”

Tickets for the day-long event cost £3 per person and booking via Eventbrite is essential.