What a fantastic first weekend we've just had at the 2020 Maidenhead's Big Read, as the photos below show!

Visitors to this years event were treated to so many different activities including a word search treasure hunt around town, writing down their best jokes for the joke corner, investigating books in the onsite book swap and taking time out to read with our wonderful volunteers.

In addition we were also treated to a visit by not just Bookstart Bear, but also Highway Rat who joined in our storytelling sessions in Maidenhead Library and around the simply magical reading tree located in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre.

Event organisers were also thrilled by the huge number of entries into the poster competition, all of which can be viewed in the Inspiration Theatre inside the Nicholsons Shopping Centre... see if you can spot the winning entries proudly displaying their rosettes!

Once Upon a Bus were also parked at the top of the High Street so that young Maidonians could experience the magic of storytelling, bringing stories come to life.  Stories included The Gruffalo, Alice in Wonderland, Aliens in Underpants and many others fun stories.

An array of authors and illustrators enthused and inspired young and old in the Inspiration Theatre, and included:

• Storytelling and Creative Workshop with Lisa Buddin: Lisa shared the inspirations behind the characters in her book, Five Cat Magic and invited children to bring their own characters to life in this interactive workshop.
• Illustration and character design workshop with Stephanie Jayne: Stephanie talked about the fantastic illustrations she does for children's books and explained how you come up with how a character will look.  She has told the audience about her unique and quirky stories of her own recently published rhyming book, ‘Eleanor Hurl the Peculiar Girl’.
• Anyone can be a writer! with Patricia Elliott: Patricia talked about why she finds writing so exciting, what inspires her novels and how you can find your own ideas.  She also offered some top tips for story-making. 
• My Favourite Things! with Coral Rumble: Guests at this fun session learnt how to encourage their child to interact with poems and simple stories using their favourite toys in the process. Coral is a firm believer that when the joy of reading is experienced at a young age, motivation to read becomes much stronger.
• Orang-utan Apes and Rainforest: Global Environmental Issues with Leysa Henderson: a very popular session that focused on the global issues that inspired Leysa to write her books, including topics such as rubbish, waste and plastics. 
• Seances, spooks and spiritualism – the supernatural influences behind The Lost Ones with Anita Frank: Anita discussed how a grieving nation’s obsession with life after death during the First World War and her own family ghost stories inspired her to write The Lost Ones.
• Illustration with Creative Writing Workshop with Fiona Cradduck: Visitors had so much for drawing in this session, with children creating book characters, being guided in how to illustrate a short poem or story in a concertina book.
• A guidance to build fantastic stories... Find Your Story with Kate Poels: Guests spent time learning how to come up with cool characters, super settings and powerful plots to bring their stories to life.
• Meet 'My Mood Stars' with Wendy Woo: Wendy was delighted to be able to tell her stories at this event and share her tactile toys.
• Demystifying Asian food and Culture with Pamela Chen: Through talks and demonstrations, Pamela demystified the delights of Asian cuisine and provided a fascinating insight into eastern culture – bringing Asian food to the western table.
• The Place Where You Are Needed Most with Ric Casale: Our towns and cities are the places that have the greatest influence over life on Earth. The single biggest cause of global warming – the urbanisation of humanity – is potentially the principal solution. Ric explained how we can lead the charge towards a more prosperous yet sustainable future. 
• The Adventures of Charly Holmes with Tim Walker: ​Tim gave a talk on how he and his daughter devised and wrote the Charly Holmes book series, with readings. 

And that's just the first weekend, there are so many events still left to enjoy so check out the full programme and book your place today - click here

A new festival to encourage a love of reading in Maidenhead is set to launch this spring.

Maidenhead’s Big Read is the brainchild of Stephan Stephan who, in his capacity as a Rotary member, has co-ordinated reading volunteers in schools for the last 10 years.

The event will take place from Saturday, March 2 to Sunday, March 17 in communal spaces in the town and schools and is aimed at both children and adults alike.

Stephan said: “My passion is about children reading because if a child doesn’t read fluently by the time they finish primary school, they struggle for the rest of their lives.”
Stephan believes most book festivals celebrate an enjoyment of reading rather than present an opportunity to nurture this interest in more reluctant readers.

He recognises that ‘some people don’t have time to read at home’ but thinks that parents can play a vital role in fostering reading for pleasure.  ABC to Read, a charity that helps Berkshire children to read, will be holding sessions with parents about how to engage their children with the activity.

Over the three weekends of the festival, Stephan is hoping to have storytelling project Once Upon a Bus and the mobile library in the High Street.

A book-swap shop will also be open throughout the festival and occupy two vacant shop spaces in the Nicholson’s Centre. It will be a place to listen to stories being read as well as taking a pew in the soft seating and picking up a book, magazine, comic or newspaper.

It is hoped that there will be some book giveaways and competitions and Usborne Books will have a pop-up shop in town every weekend and pitch up at schools during the week.