Internationally bestselling author AF Steadman comes to St Austell Festival to share all about the fourth book in her blockbuster series, Skandar and the Skeleton Curse.

Get ready for unlikely heroes, elemental magic, sky battles, ancient secrets and ferocious unicorns. Find out about her original inspirations for the Skandar series, which has been translated into over 45 languages and is set to hit the big screens with Sony Pictures. Plus, come prepared to create your own bloodthirsty unicorn and soar into a breath-taking world!

Join best-selling author and illustrator Laura Ellen Anderson for a journey into her collection of books, including Amelia Fang, Rainbow Grey and her latest series, Marnie Midnight. This event will include a magical draw a long and a chance to ask Laura your questions.

Join YA Book Prize Shortlisted author Anika Hussain for an Inspiring Author Talk and Q&A

We’re thrilled to welcome Anika Hussain, the YA Book Prize-shortlisted author of This Is How You Fall in Love, Desi Girl Speaking and Heartbreaker, for an unmissable author talk perfect for students aged 12+. This engaging event will give students the chance to hear from Anika herself, as she shares her writing process, her inspiration, and her experiences growing up without seeing herself reflected in books. There will also be an opportunity for a Q&A session, where attendees can ask Anika all about her writing, characters, her favourite rom coms and the world of YA fiction. Don’t miss out on this exciting chance to meet one of YA fiction’s rising stars!

Meet author Holly Ryan and find out more about her brand new book Llama Library (illustrated by Ella Bailey), find out how Holly became a writer, what inspires her and how you can become a storyteller. The Llama Library isn’t a library for book-borrowers – in this library you borrow a llama! It has any subject you can imagine – cookery, history, art, music, science even romance! All you need to do is go to the section and choose your llama, give the librarian your card to stamp and you can take it home. And that’s where things might get a little… messy! But don’t worry – just return your llama to the library and borrow another.

Explore our cosmic home, and find out what it's really like. In this workshop, you'll investigate the size of the planets in our solar system and learn fascinating facts about each as you go. You'll get to map out the distances between each of the planets, revealing just how ginormous and empty the solar system really is and why it's so hard for us to visit even our nearest neighbours! You'll also get to see how far humans have managed to send spacecraft, and where some of them are now! Finally, discover where the solar system is in our Milky Way galaxy and ponder just how many other worlds teeming with life there could be out there.... And what that life might look like!

Join SF Said, Stewart Foster and Cath Howe as they share insights into their writing processes. This is a chance for students to ask questions about how these brilliant middle grade authors gather ideas, how and where they do their best writing and to find out more about the editing and drafting process.

Professor Poo and Ploppy, aka the POO CREW, are on a mission: to prove that poo is the most important substance in the Whole Entire Universe. Join award-winning illustrator Steve May as he introduces Poo Crew Adventures: Journey to Poo-topia, a fast-paced adventure, bringing together clever, funny storytelling with lots of amazing facts and tapping into kids’ fascination with all things poo-related! In this entertaining and interactive event you can expect:
• Insight into Steve's route to illustration (via roadying for bands!)
• A game of ‘Poo or True?’
• A draw-a-long of the book’s protagonist Ploppy
• A behind the scenes look at what goes into illustrating a narrative non-fiction graphic novel
• Opportunity to ask Steve any questions (a Poo & A, if you will!)

SF Said will tell the story of how he went from being a young reader like the children to writing award-winning books such as Varjak Paw, Phoenix and Tyger.

The talk will include material about his own childhood reading and writing, his dreams of being an author, and insights into the writing and editing processes, and how he created his books. There will be the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the talk. The event is equally suitable for children who've read his books and children who haven't, although those who have read at least one may get more out of it!

Join Queen of Historical Fiction Emma Carroll (Secrets of a Sun King, When We Were Warriors) as she introduces the magical world of her new novel. In The Houdini Inheritance, two children in the 1920s find themselves dragged into the seedy world of American amusement parks in the service of the world’s greatest escapologist…

Discover everything there is to know about the world-famous escape artist Harry Houdini and his suitcase full of secrets, and pick up tips on how to fire your imagination and write your own stories.

Join award-winning author Stewart Foster as he discusses his latest novel, Pieces of Us. Stewart will introduce the importance of showing how mental health matters in young adult fiction including seeing ourselves and our "issues" represented in print. How friendships and talking can help us and why he ultimately decided to share this story now.

Two secrets, an unbreakable bond . . . a powerful and heartbreaking love letter to a life-changing friendship.
Warning: contains some themes that readers may find upsetting, including disordered eating.

Meet the Unicorns in Uniforms, a chapter book series for 5-7s.

Join Tracy Curran as children can meet the unicorn characters from the series, hear the emergency siren (not too loud), join in the Unicorns in Uniforms rap, explore what is in a firefighters kit and design their own unicorn in uniform.

There will be a fun craft activity, too!

Discover how to talk to your pet, with vet and star of Channel 4's Fur Babies and CBBC's The Pets Factor, Dr James Greenwood.

What does it mean when a dog's tail wags round and round like a helicopter? What is a cat is trying to say when its ears are pricked up? And what on earth is a rabbit trying to tell you when it eats its own poo?

From cats and dogs to horses, hamsters, rabbits and more, animals all have something to say. Learn how to read the clues your pet is trying to give you, and discover how to communicate with them, too!