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Children's Book Festival 2020 ENJOY AUTHOR AND STORYTELLER EVENTS ONLINE

The annual Children’s Book Festival helps spread the enjoyment of books and reading among children and families, authors and illustrators, teachers and librarians all over Ireland.

Traditionally, during the month of October, primary school children from all over the county would visit local libraries to meet children’s authors and storytellers. Unfortunately the current situation did not allow for actual visits in 2020, so we invited 2 authors and a storyteller to deliver events straight into the classroom.

Authors Dave Rudden and Natasha Mac a’Bháird presented a fun talk for older classes and storyteller Chris Thomson entertained and enthralled younger classes. These sessions were made available to every primary school in Cavan via the wonders of technology and now you can watch them too!

Irish author Dave Rudden has been shortlisted for the Hennessy New Writing Award and the Bath Short Story Award, and is the recipient of the Fantasy Book Review 2011 Short Story Prize. He performs regularly at festivals, in libraries and schools, his short fiction and poetry have been published in journals like Wordlegs, Bare Hands, the Quotable and Poddle and he enjoys cats, adventure and being cruel to fictional children.

Natasha Mac a’Bháird is a freelance writer and editor and has written ten books for children. Her first two children's books, Olanna's Big Day and Missing Ellen, were both chosen for the White Ravens Collection. Her Star Club series was inspired by her childhood love of drama and being on the stage. She enjoys visiting schools and libraries to talk to children about her books. Natasha is originally from Donegal but now lives in Dublin with her family.

Chris has designed and facilitated educational arts projects of all kinds for many years. Her background is teaching in the primary sector but she also has qualifications in educational drama and a diploma in primary mathematics teaching.