{"id":1076620,"date":"2026-07-08T16:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1076620\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:52:22","slug":"oldham-storyfest-returns-with-a-celebration-of-books-creativity-and-family-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1076620\/","title":{"rendered":"Oldham StoryFest returns with a celebration of books, creativity and family fun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image image--feature\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/StoryFest_header_1.jpg\" alt=\"Cartoon images of books, including a cat lying on a pile of books, a rocket, and a dragon. Text reads: &quot;Oldham StoryFest, where stories come alive&quot;.\"\/><br \/>\n                <strong>Published:<\/strong> Wednesday, 8th July 2026<\/p>\n<p>Oldham StoryFest is returning with another exciting programme of author talks, illustration workshops and family activities designed to inspire a love of reading. <\/p>\n<p>The popular festival, taking\u00a0place at Oldham Library on\u00a0Saturday\u00a011\u00a0July,\u00a0will welcome\u00a0children and families for a day packed with storytelling\u00a0and\u00a0creativity\u00a0and\u00a0provide\u00a0opportunities to meet some of the UK\u2019s best-loved children\u2019s authors,\u00a0poets\u00a0and illustrators.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Running from\u00a011am until 3pm,\u00a0the free event will feature interactive sessions throughout the day, with visitors encouraged to come dressed as their favourite literary characters or in their best festival outfits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p lang=\"EN-GB\">Subnum\u00a0Hariff-Khan, head of Heritage, Libraries and Arts at Oldham Libraries,\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cOldham\u00a0StoryFest\u00a0is a brilliant opportunity for children and families to come together and enjoy the magic of books. Hearing directly from the people who create these wonderful stories can spark children\u2019s imagination and inspire them to discover\u00a0reading for pleasure.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0proud to welcome so many talented writers\u00a0and illustrators\u00a0to Oldham and look forward to seeing families making the most of everything the festival has to offer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s programme features Carnegie-nominated author Ben Davis\u00a0and\u00a0former BookTrust Writer-in-Residence Rashmi\u00a0Sirdeshpande,\u00a0as well as\u00a0Holly Sterling, who was highly commended in the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, and award-winning poet Dommy B, who also starred in CBeebies\u2019\u00a0Rhyme Rocket.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They will be joined by popular poets and performers Liz Million and Paul Cookson, alongside critically acclaimed poet James Carter, who has visited more than 1,500 schools. The festival is also delighted to welcome local author Deborah Bradbury, whose passion for storytelling is sure to captivate children and families alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The event is supported by sponsors Kajima and InfraRed Capital Partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>StoryFest\u00a0will also mark the launch of this year\u2019s Summer Reading Challenge, delivered by Oldham Libraries in partnership with The Reading Agency.\u00a0With the 2026\u00a0theme\u00a0\u201cRead\u00a0to the Beat\u201d, children are invited to\u00a0set their own reading goals from reading to a sibling or visiting their local library.\u00a0Those who complete the challenge will receive a certificate and medal to take back to school. Children can sign up during the challenge period\u00a0(11 July \u2013 12 September)\u00a0at any library across the borough, as well as at Gallery Oldham.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Suzanne Hudson, Senior Development Officer for Oldham Heritage, Libraries and Arts\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0something special about children meeting the people behind the books they love or are just discovering. It shows that books\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0just appear on shelves:\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0created by real people with imagination,\u00a0creativity\u00a0and determination. It inspires them to see reading and writing as something that they can be part of too as well as encouraging a lifelong love of reading.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There will be lots of free family activities happening throughout the summer holidays at Oldham Library\/Gallery Oldham and at community libraries across the borough. Please visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hla.oldham.gov.uk\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">hla.oldham.gov.uk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"button button--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oldham.gov.uk\/news\/archive\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News archive<\/a><br \/>\n                <a class=\"button button--small\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oldham.gov.uk\/rss\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oldham Council news RSS feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published: Wednesday, 8th July 2026 Oldham StoryFest is returning with another exciting programme of author talks, illustration workshops&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1076621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,387,390,4884,26114,26113,51466,2465,12,1286,294904,294907,28606,294905,14299,294906,16,15],"class_list":["post-1076620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-families","tag-family","tag-great-britain","tag-libraries","tag-library","tag-literacy","tag-manchester","tag-news","tag-oldham","tag-oldham-libraries","tag-read-to-the-beat","tag-reading","tag-storyfest","tag-summer","tag-summer-reading-challenge","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116885400332708929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1076621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}