Two main stages, six headliners, the best line-up of acts 2021 will see
Direct to your sofa, Hungerford Bookshop brings live author events online
READING Festival tickets are officially sold out.
At both Reading and Leeds Festivals, a massive six headliners will perform without any clashes as a second main stage is added to each site to accommodate an incredible line-up to mark the festival’s return. Managing director of organisers Festival Republic Melvin Benn said: “After an absence of a year we are delighted to announce the 2021 return to Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park in 2021 with our most epic plan yet. Two main stages, six headliners, the best line-up of acts 2021 will see and 200,000 fans are going to celebrate the best music in the best music festivals in Britain.”
Headliners Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, Post Malone, Catfish and the Bottlemen,
Disclosure and Queens of the Stone Age will be joined by some of the most exciting talent in rock, indie, alternative, hip-hop, and dance, including AJ Tracey, Doja Cat, Lewis Capaldi, Mabel, Ashnikko, Beabadoobee, Dababy, Fever 333, LYRA, Madison Beer, MK, Sofi Tukker,
100 Gecs and Two Door Cinema Club. Undoubtedly one of the hottest names in the world right now, Texan superstar Post Malone, returns to headline Reading and Leeds on his third appearance.
‘Posty’ has been on an unprecedented trajectory of success, including an incredible main stage headline appearance in 2019 which he followed with chart-topping album Hollywood’s Bleeding, Since being catapulted into fame, the post-modern popstar has had hit after hit, including the inescapable Better Now, Psycho, Circles and Rockstar.
Multi award-winning musician Stormzy is renowned for his epic live shows and his performance on Reading and Leeds main stages is sure to be one for the history books. A showman known for evolving the underground musical landscape, as well as being a perennial political agitator, Stormzy is a true spokesman of black empowerment and social activism. His well-earned headline slot at Reading and Leeds will be colossal.
All-round legend Liam Gallagher brought an epic show to 2017’s Reading and Leeds festivals, his appearance on the main stage next summer will no doubt be BIBLICAL. He said: “Yes Brothers and Sisters, I come bearing good news...Yours Truly is headlining Reading & Leeds 2021. C’MON YOU KNOW. LG”
The three day festival runs from August
27-29.
Fingers crossed... https://www.readingfestival.com
There’s a lot going on this month. It’s a red letter day, of course, on March 8 when children go back to school, but there is also World Book Day today, Mother’s Day on March 14 and World Poetry Day on March 21. Children’s book reviewer CAROLINE FRANKLIN has a few good reads to set you off... Read this and talk about it with your children, the message is very important – and it makes a good story, too. Published by Walker Books at £12.99 (HB) n LIFE can be hard when you’re a monster and Fred Blunt’s monster is, truth to tell, not one of the prettiest kind. Lionel the Lonely Monster is a sweetie, but the fact that he has no chums means that he is delighted when Milo comes along and makes friends. There are difficulties, of course, such as when Lionel who is very big and Milo – who is a very small dog – go on the seesaw in the children’s playground. Nevertheless they have a wonderful time together and then Lionel notices the poster for a missing dog – Milo. He does the right thing and takes Milo home which turns out to be the best thing he ever did because it all ends with him having two friends instead of none. A delight of a book to share with three to four year-olds. Published by Oxford University Press at £6.99 (PB) n IN the kingdom of Little Slippington there are problems – big problems. The king is so poor that he has to wear a paper crown and it’s down to his son
WORLD Book Day was created by UNESCO in 1995 to celebrate books and their authors and to help children discover the joy of reading.
The first took place in 1997 and the celebration has since gone from strength to strength with schools encouraging children to realise that reading books is a very good thing indeed. This year, of course, the majority of children will not be back at school on the day itself. If you are wondering whether book tokens will still be distributed or have other questions about World Book Day this year, go to worldbookday.com/about-us/frequentlyasked-questions where there is all the information about how those good people who organise World Book Day are making sure that children do not miss out.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a book to give to a younger child, there’s a lot to choose from, including the following.
n REMEMBER when a large carton of 28,000 plastic toy ducks was washed overboard into the Pacific Ocean in 1992?
They travelled all over the world, turning up on shores from Australia to the UK and many places in between. Ideal material for a children’s book and Markus Motum not only tells the story but brings home the message that plastic is a great danger to every living thing in our oceans. Colourfully and attractively illustrated Ducks Overboard! A True Story of Plastic In Our Oceans delivers its message almost imperceptibly to the children aged four and upwards who are lucky enough to be given this book.
Prince Max to find the giants who live nearby and ask them for some of their gold.
Off he goes on a grumpy talking donkey in a cloak made from his mum’s bed curtain. Unfortunately what the Little Slippington royals don’t know is that the giants are also broke and have none of the special roots to feed their geese who lay the golden eggs. So Hamfreda and her Gramps, the King of the Giants and Max plus donkey all head for the perilous Hungry Marshes hoping to solve their problems. The Giants’ Tea Party is a gloriously hilarious book to make children of 6/7 laugh their socks off. Excellent storytelling from Vivian French. Published by Walker Books at £6.99 (PB) n SHIRLEY Hughes’ aim, as she says in the preface, is to bring “a gentle introduction to food and cookery” to the very young in Time For Tea – A First Cookery Book and she achieves that most successfully. In addition to jolly recipes ranging from pancakes and bobtail bites to dinosaur crunchies and veggie rockets, the story of Olly and Katy’s everyday adventures takes the reader through the year with the usual charming, homely illustrations which make books by this author so popular. Another winner, this time with a purpose, for an author who brings so much pleasure to the children who read her gentle stories.
Published by Walker Books at £12.99 (HB) n ANY parent who had Hack and Whack as their children would be quickly driven to distraction – unless they lived in the snowy fjords of a Viking kingdom.
The pair create chaos at a birthday party they go to (uninvited) and end up doing their very favourite thing – RAIDING!! – which means running off with all Elsa Gold-Hair’s birthday presents. Do they get into trouble? No, since because they are the worst
Vikings in the village, their mum and dad consider themselves to be the very best parents.
That’s just the first of three ghastly and very funny stories in Francesca Simon’s Two Terrible Vikings in which the terrible pair, plus friends Twisty Pants and Dirty Ulf, continue to behave appallingly – making their mum and dad prouder than ever. Illustrated by Steve May, this is fun for those aged seven or so. Published by Faber and Faber at £6.99 (PB) n FINALLY, I go back to World
Poetry Day, a day which celebrates poetry from Thackeray to Zephaniah and beyond.
The big, brightly-illustrated A World Full of Poems is not only packed with poetry but sets out to encourage children to get involved rather than just listening.
There are many different sections including ‘Family and Friends’ (Granny’s Teapot makes an appearance here), ‘Feelings’ has a Poem For a Bully; Let’s Celebrate the Elephant appears in the ‘Animals’ section and What Do The Trees Know? is questioned in the ‘Science and Art’ section.
Among the poets featured are familiar names to parents, such as Emily Dickinson and Lewis Carroll, but the majority of the poems, humorous or serious, brief or a little longer, are new to me and written for children to enjoy and empathise with. (Homework, oh Homework, What Can You Do With A Football). This is a book for even those as young as four or five to enjoy and it ends with suggested ‘poetry activities’ which all sound fun. A gorgeous book with which to celebrate World Poetry Day.
Published by Dorling Kindersley at £20 (HB)
Jeffrey Archer
BEFORE lockdown Hungerford’s award-winning independent bookshop had a regular programme of author talks. Now, while it looks as if an audience seated closely together in a hall or auditorium might still be a bit of a way off, the bookshop has decided to take its events online.
Co-owner Emma Milne-White says: “We’ve been missing events – as have authors – and while we know that online ones aren’t quite the same we believe learning about a new book live, straight from the author and being able to ask questions, all from your sofa, still makes for an enjoyable evening.” The bookshop is in the process of working with local independent wine merchant The Naked Grape to offer wine that complement the book.
Bottles will be available to buy along with the ticket and book and collected safely from the bookshop.
On March 10, readers are encouraged to buy and read a copy of Naomi
Woods’ The Hiding Game – a story of love and betrayal set in the Bauhaus art school in the 20s – before chatting about the book on Zoom. Participants will then be joined by the author who will answer questions and also give a potted history about the unusual practices that were encouraged of the students there.
On March 30, there will be an informal evening with writer Claire Fuller whose fourth novel, Unsettled Ground, is set locally. Claire will be talking about her book – a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival in a rural community – as well as showing us her writing room, and will be accompanied by folk musician Henry Ayling who will be playing a
Jeffrey Archer will be joining the bookshop on Zoom on April 1 and will talk about this latest page-tuner. This is an amazing opportunity to ask this hugely successful author questions
couple of songs featured in the book. April sees master storyteller and Sunday Times number one bestselling writer Jeffrey Archer talk about Turn A Blind Eye – the third instalment in his gripping story of Detective Inspector William Warwick. Jeffrey Archer will be joining the bookshop on Zoom on April 1 at 7.30pm and will talk about this latest page-turner. This is an amazing opportunity to ask this hugely successful author questions. Tickets will include a signed copy of the book. Tickets for all events must be booked in advance (especially for book club style events as it is helpful to have read the book beforehand). Tickets can be bought via www.hungerfordbookshop.co.uk or search on Eventbrite.
“We are really excited about authors in your living room, so to speak,” says Emma. “We’ll also be carrying on with regular children’s storytime sessions and literary quiz nights.”
Let’s hope that by the end of this year we can meet authors in person with friends, but in the meantime head over to the bookshop’s website and social media to keep up to date about their virtual events.