Honorary graduates acclaimed for their literary achievements, including spoken-word poet Patience Agbabi, returned to Canterbury on Monday to inspire the next generation of readers and writers.
The event, which saw over 100 local school children engage in reading-related activities on the University’s campus, marked the beginning of Canterbury Children’s Literature Festival, which returns to the city this weekend.
The young people in attendance were also celebrating their success on the reading programme delivered by the University’s Outreach & Widening Participation team, designed to increase reading confidence. Participating students and their teachers reported an increase in vocabulary, confidence in reading aloud and an uptake in books borrowed from the school library. 46% of students improved their reading age by six months or more over the course of the programme.
Monday’s event saw school children create comics with Zak Simmonds, make magic with Penny Chrimes and ‘leap into the future’ with Kent honorary graduate and author of time travelling adventure books, Patience Agbabi. When asked what they would remember, one child said: ‘drawing with Zak and accidentally creating something amazing’, whilst another reflected: ‘reading is more than just a book. It’s an adventure!’.
As the headline sponsor of Canterbury Children’s Literature Festival, the University of Kent is enabling the organisers to run a three-day programme of events between Friday 10 and Sunday 12 July, including five days of free events for local schools during the week, bringing over 20 authors, illustrators and workshop providers to venues across the city.
Public events are taking place in a range of venues, from the more conventional Canterbury Library to Chapters Coffee and Books, to historic sites such as Canterbury Cathedral and the Franciscan Gardens. Families with children of all ages can book tickets for a range of fun and engaging sessions, including a ‘Turn your City Wild’ collage workshop with Wildwood, a storytelling concert at Fenwick and storytelling yoga in Canterbury’s Old Synagogue.
Clare Allison, Head of Outreach and Widening Participation commented: ‘We’re delighted to support Canterbury Children’s Literature Festival which fills a really important gap in the city’s cultural landscape. Spreading the joy of reading and stories can play a vital role in opening up education, helping young people explore ideas in a creative space and develop literacy skills that will support them in whatever path they choose through school. We’re looking forward to seeing Canterbury come alive through the wonder of books, bringing families together to celebrate and enjoy all that children’s literature has to offer.’
The festival is a subsidiary of Bookshop Crawl UK, which registered as a Community Interest Company in 2025, almost ten years after founder, Bex Hughes, first asked Twitter (now X) who wanted to explore bookshops in London with her. As part of their 10-year celebrations, they wanted to create access to literacy and stories through bringing authors, illustrators, storytellers, actors and stories in all their forms to the families, schools and children of Kent.
‘Working with the University is such a vital part of launching this brand-new festival for Canterbury and Kent,’ said festival co-founder, Bex Hughes. ‘Children in this area have some of the lowest levels of reading enjoyment in the country, and we are doing everything we can to create a low cost, accessible festival celebrating the joy of stories in all their forms, for as many children and families as possible. The support the University is providing enables us to do this and we are so grateful.’
Sponsorship of the festival is part of the University’s extensive Outreach and Widening Participation programme which, in partnership with schools and colleges, supports the aspirations and attainment of young people from backgrounds who might not otherwise consider progression to higher education.
To find out more about the festival and their programme visit the website,