Welcome to the Imaginarium Children’s Book Festival!
Join us for two magical days celebrating books, stories and imagination.
Designed for children aged 5–10 and their families,
our festival is packed with inspiring authors, creative workshops, performances and activities that encourage every child to discover the joy of reading.
Hosted at The Children’s Country House at Sudbury, the festival will showcase immersive storytelling, hands-on creative workshops, and engaging activities across both
a School Programme Thurs 10 Sep and
a Family Programme Sat 12 Sep.
Celebrating UK authors, illustrators, and independent publishers, the festival aims to foster lasting connections with literature, imagination, and creative expression.
Working together:
What's On –
Saturday 12 September 2026
Aadvark Day with Vicky Gatehouse
Blending playful poetry performance with
pebble painting and lots of opportunities to join in, this fun and fact-filled workshop is perfect for all animal and plant lovers.
Pop by anytime from 12pm – 4pm
Recommended for: children all ages
Where: courtyard
"Bee is not Afraid of Me"
- Poetry exploration with music
Explore sound, play with music and record your voice. Drop into this
hands-on soundscape
workshop and
help Mr Shay build
a magical world of
insect-inspired sounds. Using beats, bug noises, nature sounds and your
own imagination,
add to a shared community
soundscape or create your very own, inspired by poems from the book,
'The Bee Is Not
Afraid of Me'.
Pop by anytime from 10am – 4pm
Recommended for: children all ages
Where: Ground floor
Family Yoga:
Balam and Lluvia's House
Fun yoga for families to try together, surrounded by nature in the courtward with Movement Artist Louise Jaggard. Workshop
will be based on "Balam and Lluvia's House" exploring the playfulness and richness
of the poetry through creative movement.
Times:
-
11am – 11.45
-
12pm- 12.45
-
2pm- 2.45pm
Recommended age: 5-10
Where: cortyard
Please Don’t Read the Footnotes Please!
Creative writing workshop with author Rob Walton
In this workshop, Rob will provide you with a wealth of inspiration to craft your own captivating short stories.
With a focus on quirky themes from biscuit baths to falling stars,
and visual writing prompts.
Times: 10am - 10.45am and 2pm - 2.45pm
Recommended age: 6-11
Where: upstairs classroom
Our Family Masterpiece
Times:
-
10.30am – 11.30am
-
1pm – 2pm
-
3pm – 4pm
Step inside Mama’s Wedding with author and illustrator Circle Yuen in this playful family portrait exchange workshop.
After a live story reading, children and adults take turns drawing
one another through handmade Living Frame Portrait Booths using colourful markers and
fine liners. Families leave with original portraits to keep, small drawings about looking closely
at the people we love.
Recommended age: 4-10
Where:Victorian Classroom
Books that inspired these workshops:
Meet Our Festival Artists
Mr Shay is a Leicester based poet and was titled Leicester’s first Poet Laureate in September 2025. Shay is influenced by social topics such as culture, heritage and nature. His poetry is a melting pot of intricate rap flows fused with South Asian
roots. Off the stage, Shay works as a community arts practitioner, leading poetry, rap and music workshops with young people across the UK.
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Q: What do children gain from engaging with books creatively (e.g. through sound, art)?
A: The arts provide a fun vehicle for children to explore books in new creative ways. What does the writing sound like, look like, feel like? It offers a multi-sensory approach to words on a page, which is particularly important for children who may experience barriers with their reading, as
I once did.
Q: Why do you think it’s important for children to read books?
A: We get to hear many stories from voices we may not have heard from before, as well as those that we can identify with. I love falling into a good book and letting my imagination bring the characters to life.
Q: What is your favourite part of 'Balam and Lluvia's House', and why?
A: That's a tough question to answer as it's such a great book! I do like The Patio as it combines poetry, nature and eating (my favourite things!)
Louise Jaggard
Louise's work as a creative arts practitioner focuses on enabling children's creativity and empowering their voices through movement, dance and nature. Her projects are accessible, imaginative and fun. When she's not working, Louise likes to read books and write poetry.
Rob Walton
Rob Walton writes short fiction and poetry, and loves to visit schools, libraries and festivals to promote enthusiasm for reading and writing. His work appears in countless magazines and anthologies and The Emma Press published Please Don't Read the Footnotes Please, his Carnegie-nominated collection of thirty quirky stories.
Q: What inspired you to write your book?
A: Random ideas and memories from my time as a teacher, a parent and a child crashing into my head and making me laugh and think. A desire to communicate and share how much fun words can be.
Q: What do you hope children will take away from your book?
A: The idea that you can write (and read) about anything and everything, as whatever your interests and whatever mood you're in, there will be a book out there that will reassure you or energise you or make you laugh. I hope children can see themselves and their friends in the book - as well as a daft bloke from Scunthorpe who may interrupt them and their friends with some or other nonsense.
Photo: Evelyn Walton
Circle
Yuen
Circle Yuen is a Hong Kong-born author and illustrator now based in the UK. She was shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize 2026. She creates picture books that explore family, change, and emotional resilience through accessible visual storytelling. Her work focuses on everyday experiences and the emotional life within them.
Q: Why do you think it's important for children to read books?
A: Books help children develop imagination, language, and emotional understanding. Picture books are especially important as they combine text and image, helping children interpret meaning in different ways and build visual literacy alongside reading skills.
Q: What do you hope children will take away from Mama's Wedding?
A: I hope children feel that their emotions are valid, even when they are difficult to express. I also hope they come away with a sense that families can change over time, while love and care can remain constant.
Victoria Gatehouse
I am a poet and picture book writer who originally trained as a zoologist. As someone who is fascinated by the natural world, I love to write about animals and plants, especially quirky and unusual ones!
Q: Why do you think it’s important for children to read books?
A: Books are magical portholes to other worlds where the imagination knows no bounds. They can be a source of information and wonder, inspiring children to write their own stories and poems. I also think reading can be a reassuring and empowering experience for children when they find subjects, situations, or characters they identify with.
Q: What inspired you to write your book?
A: As a poet who originally trained as a zoologist, writing Aardvark Day was a way of combining two things I am passionate about. Animals, plants, and the natural world are a big inspiration for my writing, and I had a lot of fun writing poems about them. I hope Aardvark Day will encourage children to take time to connect thoughtfully with nature and to think about small changes they can make to help protect the environment.
To attend the festival,
please purchase an admission ticket to The Children’s Country House at Sudbury.
Address:
The Children’s Country House at Sudbury
Main Road
Sudbury
Ashbourne
Derbyshire
DE6 5HT
See you all soon to celebrate!