Stars of the Shelves Author Visits Helping Children Connect with Literacy
March 11, 2025
“Stars of the Shelves” is the latest project run by The Book Council of Wales and funded by Welsh Government.
The purpose of the project is to invite authors to hold workshops for school children in libraries throughout Wales.
The project runs until the end of March 2025 and over 25 authors from Wales will have had the chance to hold sessions to approx 4,500 children in 75 different libraries across Wales.
One of the recent author visits was by Mari Lovgreen to Machynlleth Library in Powys with Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, where she presented her new book, Llyfr Sgrap Macs Sion.
According to the recent National Literacy Trust research report,
“More children and young people who had experienced an author visit said that they enjoyed reading in their free time compared with their peers who hadn’t had a visit (58.6% vs. 39.3%).”
This highlights how important author visits can be in helping children connect with literacy.
Jaziea Farag, visits Cardiff Central Library with St Cuthberts School
The response has been magnificent, and children have thoroughly enjoyed meeting these authors in the flesh and being inspired by them. It has also been a great opportunity for these children to visit their local library which they will hopefully continue to do so in the future.
Tracey Hammett author event at Penylan Library, Cardiff with children from Ysgol Gynradd Parc y Rhath