A children’s book festival, which last year attracted 11,000 pupils and teachers from across south Wales to workshops with 45 of their favourite authors and illustrators, has been cancelled.
Instead, other one-off events throughout the year are planned to fill the gap left by Swansea’s Wordplay festival. The week-long event at the city’s Dylan Thomas centre has been running for 11 years. Workshops and talks have been led by leading lights in children’s books.
Swansea council’s education department has withdrawn its pound;2,000 funding for Wordplay, and the centre is looking for other sources of finance.
Its literature officer David Woolley said: “We need a programme that keeps reading popular throughout the year. By expanding Wordplay, we are confident that even more children will discover the joy of reading. We will bring authors to the children on a more frequent basis.”
Derek Cobley, who stood down as Wordplay’s organiser this year, said he was disappointed it would not run this year. But he added: “It had to get bigger or change.”
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