Award-winning children’s author Jasbinder Bilan has been announced as the Young People’s Patron for this year’s Somerset Art Weeks Festival.
The Indian-born British writer, whose debut novel Asha and the Spirit Bird won the prestigious Costa Children’s Book Awards, will help champion the festival’s family-friendly programme when the event returns from 19 September to 4 October.
Organised by Somerset Art Works, the festival will celebrate Somerset’s rich heritage and diversity under the theme ‘Cultural Connections’.
Jasbinder, who studied at Bath Spa University and now lives near Bath with her family, is known for weaving magical realism into stories that explore friendship, family, hope and cultural heritage.
She said, “I love creating magical worlds and cracking adventures inspired by the natural world. As a girl, I always loved writing – I can’t remember a time when I didn’t invent stories, but I never imagined that one day I’d write a story that would be published.”
Somerset Art Works Creative Director Carol Carey said, “It is so exciting to have Jasbinder as our Young People’s Patron, with her passion for storytelling and natural connection with children and sparking their imaginations.
“The Festival includes a rich and exciting Family Friendly Programme, which Jasbinder will be an integral part of. We know that creativity brings families of all shapes and sizes together; offering intergenerational activities to do together, create together and remember together.
“Early engagement shapes habits for a lifetime and builds support for arts and culture in the future.”
The family-friendly programme will feature six dedicated workshops alongside a wide range of talks, demonstrations, creative activities and hands-on sessions hosted by venues across Somerset.
Jasbinder believes creativity can unlock ideas and inspire young people to tell their own stories.
She said, “The seeds of my writing were sown with an image that kept popping into my head. I couldn’t shake this image away, so I began to take my family memories and twist them into a magical story.
“I do a lot of ‘think-writing’ at the start of my process and one of the exciting things I do when I begin a story is to buy a special notebook – with plain paper so I can draw, stick interesting things into it and be messy.
“The Family Friendly events at the Somerset Art Weeks Festival provide a platform to create – ideas, stories, art – anything that fires the imagination, and I am proud to be part of this extraordinary journey.”
The free festival features exhibitions, events and activities at around 100 venues across Somerset and regularly attracts more than 20,000 visitors.
