Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho, will make a special appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival before heading north to Shetland to complete the Scottish leg of his epic nationwide ‘Library Marathon’ tour
Joseph Coelho will appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with broadcaster and historian David Olusoga (26 August) and illustrator Fiona Lumbers (27 August) alongside a behind-the-scenes sessions on his latest YA novel, The Boy Lost in the Maze (28 August).
Waterstones Children’s Laureate (2022 -2024), Joseph Coelho, will then go on to visit Shetland library to complete the Scottish leg of his nationwide ‘Library Marathon’ adventure.
The award-winning performance poet, playwright, and children’s author is on an epic cross-country mission to join a library in every local authority in the UK – more than 200 libraries in total – with the aim of encouraging people, young and old, to join their local library.
Paul Coelho is championing local libraries and the vital role they play within the community and inspiring a love of reading in young people.
From 15-19 May, Coelho visited Orkney, the Highlands and the Western Isles for a jam-packed week of school and library events with Scottish Book Trust, including visits to Orkney Library & Archive (15 May) and Stornoway Library (18 May).
He will then return in August for a further visit to Shetland to join Shetland Library (29 August) which will mark the completion of the Scottish leg of his Library Marathon.
Joseph Coelho, Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2022–2024, said: “I am thrilled to round off the Scottish leg of my Library Marathon tour by visiting libraries in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles. Libraries made me a writer and make communities thrive.
“They have been a vital part of my life: from living on estates where I had a library next door, to my first Saturday job, to working at the British Library whilst studying at UCL, to touring theatre shows designed to be performed in libraries.
“I’m immensely grateful to libraries and the services they provide, so I want to use my platform as the Waterstones Children’s Laureate to champion these essential launchpads of learning. I want to hug every library, these miraculous institutions where new horizons line the shelves, where minds go to grow!”
Joseph Coelho has now visited 178 libraries across the UK as part of his Library Marathon, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen.
At his visit to libraries in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, he will register for a library card, borrow a book, as well as reading to and performing for the children in the library.
Coelho’s ambitious ‘Library Marathon’ began prior to his appointment as the foremost representative of children’s literature, the Waterstones Children’s Laureate, and was put on hold due to the Covid pandemic.
Now Joseph – who is acclaimed for his work including the Luna Loves picture books, middle grade series Fairy Tales Gone Bad, YA verse novel The Girl Who Became a Tree, as well as poetry collections for all ages including Overheard in a Tower Block and Poems Aloud – is set to complete his campaign by putting library advocacy at the heart of his laureateship.
The ‘Library Marathon’ will culminate in a special, public event at the British Library in October 2023 to mark National Libraries Week 2023.
Diana Gerald, Chief Executive of BookTrust added: “Libraries are essential community hubs for children and families and with the current cost of living crisis, can offer a safe and warm space, packed full of fabulous books that will inspire children of all ages on their reading journeys.
“Sharing stories and reading together with children has been proven to bring children wide-ranging benefits that can positively affect their lives. If Joseph’s Library Marathon has inspired you to visit your own local library, talk to the librarians – they are experts and can support you to find books and stories that you and your child will enjoy reading together.”
The ‘Library Marathon’ is one of three major initiatives announced by the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, which is managed by BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, as part of his two year tenure.
Coelho’s other campaigns include the ‘Poetry Prompts’ weekly online series, which celebrates the power of poetry in all its forms, and ‘Bookmaker Like You’, which aims to showcase a diversity of new talent within the book industry so that every child can see themselves as a bookmaker.
