Thursday, 4th February 2021
‘Stars with Flaming Tails’ book launch and free teaching resource
Valerie Bloom’s latest poetry anthology.
On a cold, wet, January evening, over a hundred people opted to attend the launch of Valerie Bloom’s latest poetry anthology ‘Stars with Flaming Tails’. Except that, in this strange world we now inhabit, we didn’t need to brave the elements, we were able to do this from the comfort of our own homes, without having to travel, in some cases, hundreds of miles and crossing seas and oceans.
Even if you had had to travel that far, it would have been worth it to hear Valerie’s mesmerising poetry, and, through the magic of Ken Wilson-Max’s wonderful animations, share his illustration process. With insightful questions from Charlotte Hacking from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, the hour simply flew by for the audience of poets, parents, teachers, librarians and children.
This event was the second in a collaboration between Manchester Children’s Book Festival and the Manchester Poetry Library to celebrate children’s poetry.
We know that children and adults love listening to and reading great children’s poetry, but when children are encouraged to respond creatively, we also know that engagement happens at a much deeper level. With this in mind, we have also created a teaching resource, which, thanks to Otter-Barry Books, features three of the poems and their illustrations. The resource is free to download and features video links and ideas for reading, sharing, writing and drawing.
You can listen to the event by clicking on the audio links below.
- Clip 1 : Becky Swain, Director of the Manchester Poetry Library introduces the event
- Clip 2 : Valerie Bloom reads poetry set 1
- Clip 3 : Charlotte Hacking, Learning Manager at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, interviews Valerie and Ken
- Clip 4 : Valerie Bloom reads poetry set 2
- Clip 5 : Charlotte speaks to Valerie and Ken, Q&A 2
- Clip 6 : Audience Q&A with Valerie, hosted by Becky Swain
- Clip 7 : Valerie Bloom reads poetry set 3 to close the event
Some poems during the event were accompanied by animations showing Ken Wilson-Max’s illustration process. Three of these appear below.
‘Stars with Flaming Tails’ is available to purchase via the Otter-Barry Books website
Manchester Children’s Book Festival is a project that sits within the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University.
