Stellar team of children’s authors to take part in the Premier League Primary Stars Reading Festival

The inaugural Premier League Primary Stars Reading Festival will take place between 12 and 16 July 2021, giving primary school teachers across England and Wales the opportunity to access fun, free author events for pupils which combine football, sport and reading.

Working alongside the National Literacy Trust, the five-day event gives pupils the chance to engage in daily online sessions where they can be inspired by six top children’s authors:

• Monday 12 July – Paul Cookson author of Football 4 Every 1 (Pan Macmillan)

• Tuesday 13 July – Sharna Jackson author of High-Rise Mystery (Knights Of)

• Wednesday 14 July – Kwame Alexander author of Booked (Andersen Press)

• Thursday 15 July – Venessa Taylor author of Baller Boys (Hashtag Press)

• Friday 16 July – Matt Oldfield and Charlotte Browne authors of Ultimate Football Heroes series (Bonnier)

The live author sessions will take place via a free Zoom Webinar each morning from 10.30am, starting with Paul Cookson on Monday 12 July and ending with a double-header event featuring Matt Oldfield and Charlotte Browne on Friday 16 July.

The overarching theme of the Premier League Primary Stars Reading Festival is celebration. Authors will lead a range of workshops and readings and pupils can submit questions for the speakers. Those who participate by sharing their work on social media using the hashtag #PLPrimaryStars will be entered into a prize draw to win a box of books for their school.

Schools can sign up securely for the free Premier League Primary Stars Reading Festival at:wordsforlife.org.uk/premierleague

All of the author sessions will be recorded and will be available to re-watch at a later date. Teachers can access all the downloadable resources and activities from the festival via the National Literacy Trust’s Words for Life website.

Jim Sells, sport and literacy programme manager at the National Literacy Trust said:“We’re so excited to be able to offer schools everywhere a brilliant line up of author events as part of our very first Premier League Primary Stars online festival! We understand how hard this academic year has been for teachers and their pupils and we want this to be a week of fun, creativity and inspiration. That’s why we chose the theme of celebration!

“A great way to get children into reading, and help them gain the life-long benefits of reading is to tap into their interests. This festival engages them in books and literacy through their love of football.”

Nick Perchard, head of community at the Premier League said: “Through the inaugural Premier League Primary Stars Reading Festival we want to give more primary school pupils across England and Wales the opportunity to engage with top children’s authors and live the Premier League’s values of being inspiring, ambitious, connected and fair.

“We hope this activity will enable more five to eleven-year-olds to apply their passion for football to reading and we look forward to seeing them enjoy their online engagement with the authors, role models and activities.”

For more information and to sign up to the sessions visit: wordsforlife.org.uk/premierleague