'UK's biggest' children's literature festival opens in Merthyr Tydfil
Over 4,000 children across the region are taking part in the Merthyr Tydfil Children's Literature Festival today, all with the theme of Shakespeare
Last updated 14th Jun 2024
The 'UK's biggest' event celebrating World Book Day is back for the first time since before the pandemic.
Now in its seventh year, the festival is set to come alive with 200 workshops at over 21 venues across Merthyr, featuring flash mobs, living statues, acts, music and fairground rides too.
The event is also backed by the Senedd's Youth Parliament member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney - Andrew Millar.
He told us their aim is all about getting more young people involved with education across Merthyr Tydfil.
Andrew said: "It's going to be an awesome day. We want to try and get more young people who are based in Merthyr back into learning. It's quite a deprived area, where we're based, so we're trying to help and support our local community to bring everyone together.
"Most of the rides and everything that's going on in the festival are all free of charge, and are for the family.
"We're doing this so we can engage with as many people as possible and make it as inclusive as we can."
It's estimated well over 4,000 young people will be getting stuck-in with the festival this year, with children’s author Michael Rosen coming down, along with other authors including Christian Foley, Shakespeare School Foundation, Finding the Will, and Marica Williams helping to deliver the special workshops.
Andrew added: "Getting this year's event ready has been crazy. We've got that much stuff, we've actually hired a coach! Working on this project has been such an awesome experience, and I think for young people who have been working on the project with us - it's definitely been impactful with them too.
"It's something they never usually get to do - so they're learning all of these team-based skills and gaining new experiences at the same time, which is really, really important."
Across Merthyr, 28 schools are getting involved with this year's event across a number of year groups who have been working on songs and performances for a number of weeks in the run-up to the festival.
This year's theme is Shakespeare, with organisers getting ready for dancing, events, and the performance of the much-anticipated 'Scottish Play' - Macbeth.
Schools have also been engaging with students, and teaching them about Shakespeare ahead of the big day.
Andrew said: "I'm most excited about the launch of the festival, when we have all of those smiley faces being there and exited to get involved with everything that's going on.
"It's such a big moment for Merthyr, and it's going to be such a moment when everyone comes together - it'll give us all a sense of belonging, which will be really special."
At 9.30am a parade will see the town coming to standstill with all participants dressed as Shakespearean characters.
You can find out more about this year's festival - which is being hosted by the Stephens and George Charitable Trust, local authority and Arts Council of Wales on the Visit Merthyr website.