Canterbury Children's Literature Festival

by Bex Hughes in Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

Total raised £822

£5,000 target 56 days left
16% 14 supporters
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 11th April 2025 at 10:32pm

Bringing the joy of stories for children and teens to the historic city of Canterbury with a programme of inclusive, amazing bookish events

by Bex Hughes in Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

A Children's Literature Festival in the Heart of the Garden of England

Our vision for Canterbury Children's Literature Festival is to bring an inclusive, joyful and celebratory experience of books and stories to the area, and show our participants the power that books have to connect, inspire and create new experiences. Studies have shown that the enjoyment of reading is lower than ever before and our festival is designed to help change that.  

We need your help to make this happen! Your support will help ensure that we can hire venues for the festival, pay authors, workshop facilitators and speakers to attend, train our volunteers, purchase sensory equipment for those who need it and so many more little things that all mount up to an amazing festival. 

Why Canterbury?

Canterbury is a world heritage site with a rich literary history. Authors including Michael Morpurgo, Ian Fleming & AF Steadman have lived or been educated here. Its streets are filled with little reminders of literary links making it a perfect setting to celebrate the joy of stories.

Statistics show that despite this history, East Kent (Canterbury & Thanet) is below the national average in comprehension, reading and writing. Alongside this, a recent National Literacy Trust report has shared the terrible news that only 1 in 3 children aged 5 to 18 from around the UK regularly enjoy reading for pleasure - with the South East of England being the lowest in the country (33.9%). 

Studies (and our experience) show that reading has a unique power to build empathy, grow curiosity, and develop an understanding of the world. Our festival will help children to engage with stories in creative ways, utilising drama, crafts, drawing, scavenger hunts and more to suit different children’s learning styles. We want to provide varying ways of creating and interacting with the world of stories to show families that books don’t just belong in school.

This festival is part of our celebration of the 10th year running Bookshop Crawl UK, and will continue the ethos of celebrating and supporting local small businesses, including using our years of experience creating bookshop crawls to run scavenger hunts, bookshop crawls and more throughout the city during the festival, as well as working with local providers for the event itself. 

We are a neurodiverse family & will create events that are accessible to as many needs as possible by using physically accessible venues, creating quiet & sensory areas & having ear defenders available, and creating events with varying levels and different ways to interact with the aim of having something for everyone. 

We want to encourage celebration of all forms of reading, including audiobooks, graphic novels, picture books & more and will be programming as diverse a programme of book-related events as possible. We have a range of incredible venues in Canterbury lined up to be part of the event and have been in talks with some amazing authors, drama groups and workshop providers already, with lots more planned. Supporters will get to see all of the upcoming goodness first!

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Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£20 or more

Thankyou!

The excitement of being part of making Canterbury Children's Literature Festival happen! You will receive a thankyou on social media and in our email newsletters.

£25 or more

0 of 50 claimed

Tickets!

The excitement of being part of making Canterbury Children's Literature Festival happen! You will receive a thankyou on social media and in our email newsletter as well as first access to the programme and one free ticket to an event during the festival

£32 or more

Totes Galore

Get a beautiful Canterbury Children's Literature Festival tote bag as a reward for being part of helping our festival become a reality! You will also receive a thank you on social media and in our newsletter.

£50 or more

0 of 20 claimed

First Year Member

Become a founding member of the Canterbury Children's Literature Festival, get our beautiful tote bag as well as a first look at the programme and first access to tickets, plus two free tickets to an event

£100 or more

Bronze Level Sponsorship

Be a named sponsor for the inaugural Canterbury Children's Literature Festival. Your name or business will be featured on our website and we will thank you on social media, and you will have first access to the programme and tickets for events.

£250 or more

0 of 10 claimed

Silver Level Sponsorship

Silver Level Sponsors will be named on our website and receive a thank you on social media as well as a featured social media post highlighting their business. Silver level sponsors will also receive early access to the programme and tickets for events.

£400 or more

1 of 6 claimed

Pay for a school visit

This is your opportunity to help us bring the joy of books into local schools through Canterbury. Your pledge will ensure that we are able to arrange a visit from an amazing children's author and you will receive a personalised thank you as well as a signed book from the author, as well as early access to our programme and tickets for events.

£500 or more

0 of 5 claimed

Gold Level Sponsorship

Gold Level Sponsors will be offered the opportunity to sponsor a specific event during the festival, as well as being named on our website, and receiving all of the silver level rewards.

£1,000 or more

0 of 5 claimed

Festival Co-Conspirator

By pledging this amount you are helping to guarantee the future of our festival and you gain the honoured title of co-conspirator. Your name will appear in our programme and on all key information and you will receive 5 of our beautiful tote bags as well as first access to the programme and tickets.

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