10am: Andy Stanton
Kicking off the day at 10am is the inimitable Andy Stanton, with a high-octane celebration of 10 years of You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum!, his first book about the complete horror that is Mr Gum: a man who hates children, animals and fun. Take a whacky, laugh-out-loud journey through Andy’s imagination, hear readings from the stories Andy wrote when he was seven and prepare to leave in a fit of giggles.
10.30am: Steve Antony
The laughter continues in a fun interactive session of storytelling and drawing with picture book author-illustrator Steve Antony. The winner of the Evening Standard’s Oscar first book prize, for The Queen’s Hat, will show you how to draw a corgi and reveal the magic word you need to use to get a doughnut in Please Mr Panda. He’ll also be sharing a sneak peak of his new book, The Queen’s Present.
11.30am: Katherine Rundell and William Grill
For the over-eights, there’s more animal drawing fun at 11.30am with author Katherine Rundell and illustrator William Grill – and this time it’s wolves! Both of the authors have spent time with wolves in the wild – Katherine in order to write her epic Russian adventure The Wolf Wilder, and William Grill to research his award-winning picture book for older children, The Wolves of Carampaw.
Now, they come together to talk about their time with the wolves – and then a real dog will join them on stage for a very special life drawing class.
11.45am: Ed Vere
Bestselling author and illustrator Ed Vere takes the stage for an interactive event about his character Max the kitten, star of fabulous picture books Max the Brave, Max at Night and Max and Bird. Through storytelling and live drawing Ed will explore Max’s world and the power of pictures.
1pm: Judith Kerr
Not to be missed is Judith Kerr in conversation with the Guardian children’s books editor Julia Eccleshare at 1pm. She’ll be talking about her incredible life, from escaping Hitler’s Germany as a child, which she wrote about in Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, to creating the much-loved Mog the cat (and star of last Christmas’s Sainsbury’s ad) and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. She’ll also discuss her latest book, Mister Cleghorn’s Seal, inspired by her father, and take your questions. Best for over-eights.
1.15pm: Alex Wheatle
Another fascinating life story can be heard at 1.15pm when YA author Alex Wheatle AKA the Brixton Bard takes the stage. The author of Liccle Bit and its sequel Crongton Knights spent time in prison after the Brixton riots and that’s when he started reading – and now he has an MBE for his services to literature. He’ll be talking about how you can learn from and transform adversity in your life, whatever your background. Advised for over-11s.
2.15pm: Lauren Child
Lauren Child is a huge name in children’s books as the creator of beloved characters Clarice Bean, Charlie and Lola and Ruby Redfort. Blink and You Die will be the sixth and final book in her Ruby Redfort series. At the festival, she’ll talk about what makes her code-cracking, secret agent schoolgirl character the coolest hero in years.
2.30pm: Joseph Coelho
Poetry lovers shouldn’t miss performance poet Joseph Coelho (CBeebies Rhyme Rocket, winner of the 2015 CLPE Poetry award). In his dynamic poetry workshop, young poets will get to create worlds made of paper, sing and learn poetic devices – and use fun, active game play to create fantastic poetic adventures. Suitable for over-eights.
3.30pm: Juno Dawson, Holly Bourne and Hayley Long
Join Juno Dawson, who wrote Being a Boy (when she went by the name of James) and This Book is Gay; Holly Bourne, author of Am I Normal Yet? and The Manifesto for Being Interesting, which focuses on teen mental health; and Hayley Long who wrote Being a Girl. A great opportunity for teens to hear authors talk about the issues they faced growing up and pass on some nuggets of wisdom.
3.45pm: Andy Riley
Rounding off the day with an ear-splitting FOO HOO HOO! is Andy Riley, Emmy- and Bafta-winning writer and cartoonist, with an event for all ages filled with evil laughs, striding music, and royally good drawing … Don your crowns to discover what makes a hero and what makes a villain, take part in an evil laugh contest, learn how to draw King Flashypants, and then clear your throats to attempt a bellowing sing-a-long to the Evil Emperor’s scary music.
All events last between 45 minutes and an hour and cost £8 each. Throughout the day, there’ll also be free book-ish events for kids: from a book swap to reading tips from the Guardian’s book team.
