By Shauna Bevan

We were delighted to hold our inaugural Cuckfield Bookfest Schools’ Day at Cumnor House Sussex on 16th May. Cumnor has been a gold sponsor of the festival for several years now and we are very grateful to them for their support.

The idea behind the Schools’ Day was to bring children from different schools in Sussex together, enabling some of those who might not otherwise be able to do so, to meet and hear from popular authors. First up was Christopher Lloyd, founder of WhatonEarth books. He gave a fantastic talk on his new book It’s Up to Us which features a foreword from the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III. Using an exciting array of props from his coat with many pockets, he gave a whistle-stop tour of the challenges we face from climate change and ideas of how we might meet them. The book features stunning illustrations from artists based all over the world. Attendees from Danehill Primary and Grove Park, a specialist school in Crowborough, joined children in Years 4-6 from Cumnor in the theatre. Christopher then headed to Holy Trinity Primary School in Cuckfield where he spoke to Years 4 and 5 in turn.

Back in the theatre at Cumnor, multiple award-winning author Sarah Crossan gave a wonderfully inspiring and very funny talk on poetry to an audience of Year 7 and 8 children from Cumnor House, Oathall and Warden Park. Her session included an incredibly witty deconstruction of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and also two students from Oathall and Cumnor House joined her on the stage to recite the opening rap from the hit musical Hamilton. Children were able to buy copies of her books including her poetry anthology Tomorrow is Beautiful from the outdoor pop-up bookshop.
The day was rounded off with a visit from Sufiya Ahmed who gave a fascinating talk about the inspiration behind her novel Rosie Raja: Churchill’s Spy, including her time working at the Houses of Parliament. Children from Holy Trinity, Cuckfield joined Year 6 at Cumnor and were captivated as she wove her story encompassing politics, human rights, the history of the British Empire, immigration, morse code, spies and fighting the Nazis during WW ll.

Cuckfield Bookfest would like to thank everyone at Cumnor House Sussex, Cuckfield Bookfest volunteers, RDH Coaches, the wonderful authors and the teachers and children at the participating schools, all of whom contributed to making the day such a resounding success.

Cuckfield Book Festival 6th – 8th October and please note that the date of the literary quiz has been brought forward to Friday, 22nd September. Please expect the publication of the programme in mid August edition of Cuckfield Life.