Loogabarooga Festival proves a hit with families
This year it celebrated 80 years of The Beano
A LITERARY success again for the town....
Children and families flocked to Loughborough for the annual Loogabarooga Festival of illustrated children’s literature.
Taking place at venues around Loughborough, a range of literary events and shows thrilled and entertained children and families across six days from October 18-23.
This year, the festival was celebrating 80 years of The Beano - the longest-running British children’s comic - and was launched at Charnwood Museum by John Patrick Reynolds, the only screen printer with permission from DC Thomson, the publisher of The Beano, to use its fabulous archive of images in his work.
John Patrick’s specially-commissioned exhibition of Comic Art runs until October 31 at Charnwood Museum so there’s still a chance to visit. It celebrates the most popular characters in the longest-running British children’s comic, including Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids and Minnie the Minx.
Some of the nation’s bestloved authors and illustrators came to Loughborough to deliver wacky workshops, splendid stories and hilarious live performances to bring the world of children’s literature to life.
These included author John Hegley and illustrator Neal Layton who presented the tale of Stanley’s Stick live and Clare Elsom, the illustrator of the bestselling Flying Fergus series, who introduced her hilarious, brandnew series, Horace and Harriet.
As part of this year’s festival, there was a schools programme that included illustrators Laura Howell, John Kirk and Asia Assam visiting Loughborough primary schools to provide workshops on how to create their own illustrations and cartoon characters.
As part of Loogabarooga 2018, local schools were also invited to attend the national launch of the Wicked Young Writers Awards on Tuesday, October 23, with Dan Freedman, author of Jamie Johnson books and cast members from WICKED, the awardwinning West End musical that tells the incredible untold story of the witches of Oz.
Loogabarooga was organised by Charnwood Borough Council, supported by Leicestershire County Council, Love Loughborough, Leicestershire Promotions and friends of the festival, A Plan Insurance and Loughborough Building Society.