David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. x 30min writing workshops across both key stages with a class-sized group and the class teacher present The children will work together in small groups to put these techniques into practice by deciding on how best to perform poems – discussing rhythm, use of voice, expression, actions etc.

The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for winners not receiving the prize before stated publication date due to prize unavailability from the publisher, technical issue resulting in a delay from the publisher, or for any other reason.An inspirational session, delivered with such energy. The children produced some fabulous pieces of poetry. KS2 Assembly - Matt’s unique performance style means that children will be engaged from the moment he begins - witty, warm and humorous,

From the minute Matt walked into our school there was a buzz of excitement. He engaged every single pupil in the workshops and encouraged them all to step into the fascinating world of poetry. Pupils and staff loved the day and were left with great ideas, inspiration and a real feel good factor. It's extremely important for me, because I was that child struggling with the chaos of a difficult family situation - one that left me feeling I wasn't anybody's priority. Because I was naturally quite clever, and could be funny, and wasn't bad at sports, my primary and high school teachers just assumed I was OK. I wasn't - and nobody ever told me there was a space called poetry where I could just write down all the madness in my head as a way of trying to make sense of things. For a teacher, there is a wealth to draw on, adding poetry to story times or to provoke thoughtful discussions in other subjects. For children reading independently, there are many which will resonate with their personal experience and feelings. 'Callum' is a particularly poignant poem which I had the great pleasure of hearing Matt perform and many teachers will recognise pupils of their own in Matt's words. There are poems about difficult aspects of home life - 'A Thousand Hours', 'The Wolf', 'Hey, Mum' and 'Jake'; school life - 'It's Always the Same', 'I Hope It Rains Today' and 'Transition'; poems about feelings, relationships, life and love. Yet Matt manages to achieve a delicate balance of emotion and humour, ensuring the broadest appeal for his poems - and surely encouraging others to express themselves through this form. I wanted to write an older collection for a number of reasons: I never want to write the same book twice, and my other solo collections have been KS1 and KS2 books; also, my kids are now 12 and 17, and their experiences of the journey through high school began to colour my world and made me think of my own experiences; also, I've done a lot more work in high schools over the past few years, so it seemed like a natural progression for me - and a good way to expand as a writer. Poet Matt Goodfellow is a passionate advocate of introducing poetry to children and young people and here, he talks about the experiences that made him a poet and introduces his new collection, Let's Chase Stars Together.In this story of hope and endurance, we follow a scientist and her team during their search for the elusive 'Giant Arctic Jellyfish'.