Join this inspiring session with Jeffrey Boakye, Robert Tregoning, Viviane Schwarz and more to explore ways of building a culture of reading and writing that reflects your students’ diverse lives and enables them to Step inside their own stories. Perfect for teachers and librarians, working with children aged 5-11.

About our speakers

• Jeffrey Boakye is an ex-teacher turned writer, speaker, broadcaster and educator with a particular interest in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture.
• As an LGBTQ+ writer, Robert Tregoning hopes to help children and adults alike to accept and celebrate all that makes us uniquely ourselves. The stories Robert writes are stories he wishes he could have read as a child.
• Viviane Schwarz is an award-winning writer and illustrator of picture books, comics, craft books and interactive books. She also invents games, teaches, and draws on stage.
• Rachael Britten is a primary school teacher in Wakefield, where she has taken part in a number of the British Library’s creative campaigns.

During the session

• Hear how Jeffrey Boakye and Robert Tregoning have reflected their own experiences in their work, and get their top tips on how to inspire children to put themselves at the heart of their own stories.
• Learn from Rachael Britten about the impact of our Step inside your story campaign, and discover how to take part this autumn. We’re inviting children to make a concertina book about themselves, to show that everyone can be an author.
• Follow step-by-step tips from illustrator Viviane Schwarz to create a fabulous pop-up concertina book to make with your students.

Please have A4 paper, pencils and scissors at the ready, so that you can join in!

About Step inside your story

Celebrating representation and inclusivity in children’s books, Step inside your story invites primary school students across the UK to create concertina books and place themselves at the heart of their own stories. The aim is to show that everyone can be the hero of a story and anyone can be an author. We provide free tips and instructions on the Discovering Children's Books website with the help of beloved authors and illustrators.

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Illustration by Allen Fatimaharan

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