Bath Children’s Literature Festival has launched its Share The Story appeal to give away free books to schoolchildren in the south west.
The Share The Story fundraiser for 2025 aims to develop an interest in and a passion for books and foster a lifelong love of reading. By donating you can ensure that a child from a State school in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset or Gloucestershire, will be given a brand new book by the author they have been to see at the festival’s annual Schools Programme.
The Schools Programme gives children the excitement of attending a live event and helps to develop their love of books. Sadly, not all children are able to also buy the author’s book to keep.
The aim of Share The Story is to raise enough money so that thousands of young readers will be given a book and no child will be left behind. Last year’s appeal saw more than 4,000 books bought and given to children from south west schools.
Illustrator and author Rob Biddulph has lent his support to the campaign. “I absolutely love this Share the Story initiative,” he said. “There’s something really special about owning a book of your own, so I think it’s fantastic that the Bath Children’s Literature Festival is making that possible for every child who comes to one of their events. Anything that sparks a love of stories and fires up young imaginations gets a big thumbs-up from me.”
How you can help
Donate by visiting the Given Gain crowdfunding site, with 100% of the money going directly to buy books. Donate at https://www.givengain.com/cause/bath-festivals-161719
Or, at the point of booking tickets for your family at the children’s literature festival you will be asked if you would be happy to donate to our Share The Story Fund.
To buy tickets for the festival: https://bathfestivals.org.uk/childrens-literature/whats-on/
About Bath Children’s Literature Festival’s Schools Programme
The Schools Programme runs from Monday 29 September to Friday 3 October and is curated for schools and home-schooled families. It features events jam-packed with all kinds of reading delights!
This year’s visiting authors and illustrators are
- Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce
- Robin Stevens
- Horrible Histories’ Martin Brown
- Sue Hendra
- Pamela Butchart
- Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
- Ben Miller
- Louis Stowell
- Luke Scriven
- Joseph Coelho and Fiona Lumbers.
For more information about the Schools Programme email: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Last year’s Schools Programme saw 51 schools taking part, involving more than 4,000 children from Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
