Children Secondary

Develop your illustration skills at this fun collage workshop delivered by Hay Festival 2023 Illustrator in Residence Beth Suzanna. In this empowering workshop you’ll use the medium of collage to reflect who you are and what’s important to you. You’ll create self portraits depicting the things that inspire you. You’ll learn about the art of visual storytelling from one of the UK’s rising stars of illustration, and work together to create a large-scale group collage. Whether you want to feel inspired in a relaxed space or to get stuck in and learn a new skill, this workshop is an informal session for everyone.

Beth recently collaborated with hip hop star, actor and writer Jordan Stephens on a children’s book, The Missing Piece – you can see them in conversation about their collaboration in an event on Sunday 28 May, 10am.

Open talking from gender equality activist and Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates and author of I Heard What You Said Jeffrey Boakye, who has a particular interest in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture. Together they’ll discuss important issues for young people today including consent, women online and toxic masculinity. Laura Bates is a Hay Festival 2023 Thinker in Residence, questioning norms, finding new perspectives and challenging us to action.

The story of animation stretches back to the early 1800s with the invention of spinning optical illusion devices such as the zoetrope. These days animation is everywhere from animated films, cartoons and GIFs to computer games and VR. But how did we get here? Learn about the origins of early animation and create your own loopy animation in this fun, hands-on workshop led by visual artists MASH Cinema.

The story of animation stretches back to the early 1800s with the invention of spinning optical illusion devices such as the zoetrope. These days animation is everywhere from animated films, cartoons and GIFs to computer games and VR. But how did we get here? Learn about the origins of early animation and create your own loopy animation in this fun, hands-on workshop led by visual artists MASH Cinema.

Mystery and myth await you as debut author Clara Kumagai spins the tale of a Japan fractured in time by an infamous monster. There’s a catfish under the islands and when it rolls the land rises and falls. Sora hates the catfish, whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. After Sora’s father goes missing too, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the ruptured time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself...

This outstanding coming-of-age YA novel weaves themes of identity, ecology, loss and love. Set in a world of Japanese myth, folklore and magical realism, it’s perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli.

Patrick Kane was just nine months old when he contracted meningococcal septicaemia in 1998, leading to him becoming a triple amputee. In 2010, he became the youngest person in the world to be fitted with a bionic arm, and has gone on to carry the Olympic torch as part of the London 2012 Olympic Games and speak at TEDxTeen. Now a motivational speaker and campaigner, Kane’s Human 2.0, illustrated by Sam Rodriguez, looks at the leaps in medical engineering and the people he’s met, including Paralympians Richard Whitehead and Blake Leeper, and the world’s first ‘cyborg’ Neil Harbisson.

Transform your drawings and collages of minibeasts into a cacophony of colour using a Risograph machine. You’ll come out of this session with your own prints to take home. Risograph is a method of printing using a stencil printing machine originating in Japan and printing on 100% recycled paper. The workshop is led by Jess Bugler RCA, a contemporary print artist based in Hereford and Print Technician at Hereford College of Arts (jessbugler.co.uk).

Bring your intuition to this interactive event and learn about the storytelling power of tarot cards. Podcaster, screenwriter and journalist Caroline O’Donoghue will show you how to use the ancient magical tool for creating stories, characters and situations. O’Donoghue is author of the New York Times bestselling ‘Gifts’ trilogy, an Irish supernatural adventure about a gang of friends who find special powers through the tarot cards. She’ll perform lighthearted tarot readings – expect revelations and lots of laughs.

Transform your drawings and collages of minibeasts into a cacophony of colour using a Risograph machine. You’ll come out of this session with your own prints to take home. Risograph is a method of printing using a stencil printing machine originating in Japan and printing on 100% recycled paper. The workshop is led by Jess Bugler RCA, a contemporary print artist based in Hereford and Print Technician at Hereford College of Arts (jessbugler.co.uk).

Research shows that children form their earliest money habits by the age of seven, and Tomlinson is on a mission to teach young people how to form valuable, long-lasting money habits. The Cash is Queen author leads an energetic, interactive event, sharing her top tips and quizzing the audience on their own financial aptitude, making sure the financial habits we form are ones that will have a positive impact.

Get your voice heard and be the difference you want to see! Radio Platfform provides a platform to express yourself. In this radio and podcasting workshop we’ll use activism and protest as a starting point – you’ll learn all the best tricks and tips about what makes a good podcast before having a go at recording and producing yourself.

Radio Platfform is a youth-led radio station working from the Wales Millennium Centre, with studios in Cardiff Bay and Porth. Since its inception in 2016, it offers accredited training in audio production, and members have job opportunities as well as hands-on experience at gigs and events.

Get your voice heard and be the difference you want to see! Radio Platfform provides a platform to express yourself. In this radio and podcasting workshop we’ll use activism and protest as a starting point – you’ll learn all the best tricks and tips about what makes a good podcast before having a go at recording and producing yourself.

Radio Platfform is a youth-led radio station working from the Wales Millennium Centre, with studios in Cardiff Bay and Porth. Since its inception in 2016, it offers accredited training in audio production, and members have job opportunities as well as hands-on experience at gigs and events.

Saving a friend from falling in with the wrong crowd; the importance of friendship, care and community; and the need for urban green spaces. Sita Brahmachari will talk about her powerful YA novel When Shadows Fall, a timely, lyrical and impactful story of disaffected youth and the vulnerability of teenage years. The book mixes forms, including verse, prose and illustrations from Natalie Sirett, exploring themes that will open wide-ranging conversations.

Sita Bramachari won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with her debut Artichoke Hearts and is Writer in Residence at Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants. Natalie Sirett is a multimedia artist whose work explores issues of body image and the growing pains of adolescence.

Welcome back Daniel Morden, a Festival favourite. He’s a captivating teller of traditional stories and author of books including Dark Tales from the Woods and Secret Tales from Wales. In 2017 we awarded him the Hay Festival Medal for his services to storytelling. This year he brings a brace of creepy tales for older children and brave adults. Expect drama, danger, a sprinkling of gore and an oversharing squirrel…

Reena from Bollywood Dreams Dance Company will teach you some dynamic moves in this fun Bollywood dance workshop. You’ll learn hand gestures, some technique work and choreography. By the end of the session you’ll have formed a fun Bollywood routine to take away and show your friends!

Get ready for an energetic freestyle performance from wordsmith, hip hop artist and poet Karl Nova. He’ll bring to life pieces from his latest book, telling stories that are humorous, personal and inspirational.

The Curious Case of Karl Nova is Karl’s follow-up to his debut Rhythm and Poetry, which won the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA) in 2018.

You Don't Know What War Is is the powerfully moving true story of a young girl fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. The gripping and urgent diary of refugee Yeva Skalietska, it follows twelve days that changed 12-year-old Yeva’s life forever.

She was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling. Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she and her granny were forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story.

Yeva shares what is happening hour-by-hour as she seeks safety and travels from Kharkiv to Dublin, where she now lives. Giving a powerful insight into what conflict is like through the eyes of a child, this is an essential event for older children and adults alike. She talks to children’s author Jenny Valentine (Broken Soup, A Girl Called Joy).

Come on a powerful, hopeful and timely journey into the real effects of climate change with the authors and illustrator behind the Artemis Fowl and Illegal graphic novels as they present their new book Global. They’ll tell us how the graphic novel came to be, the real-life stories that inspired it, and what it takes to create a breathtaking story mixing words and illustrations.

Global follows two young people on different continents whose lives are changed by global warming. Yuki, who lives in an increasingly deserted Inuit township in Nova Scotia, is trying to protect a rare grolar bear (a terrifying crossbreed created by climate change). Sami lives in a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal but, because of the ever-rising ocean level, each day is a struggle to survive.

You’re invited to take part in a mixed media character design workshop, using our Sea Change postcard exhibition as inspiration, and incorporating collage, print and projections. Enter the magical, mystical marine world of Merfolk!

This workshop is part of Sea Change, the new venture of the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society, which is concerned with sustainability and promoting ocean literacy.

Artists from around the world have sent illustrated postcards to form the Sea Change exhibition, drawing attention to the growing threat to our ocean and seas. You can visit the exhibition at the Festival, and talk to the University of Worcester Illustration Department lecturers who made the Sea Change project possible, on Friday 2 June, 4pm.

Take a whip-smart deep dive into what it would really be like to be internet famous at 17, with Bristolian author Amara Sage. Introducing her debut YA novel, Influential, and shooting straight to the heart of the modern day teenage experience – both online and offline – Amara will discuss themes of social media, cancel culture, online trolling, body image and more.