As part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, Book Festival staff have been working with a group of school pupils aged 8-14 from Craigmillar in Edinburgh to co-curate a strand of events exploring the concept of freedom. The name the young people have chosen for their strand is Codename F. 

The Codename F young programmers have designed 9 events across the Book Festival’s public adult and children’s programmes, and the programme for schools. In a series of posts, the young people (and some of the authors featured) explain the reasoning behind their decisions. 

David Walliams: Big Laughs 
Thursday 23 August, 17:00 – 18:00
Baillie Gifford Main Theatre (Charlotte Square Gardens)
£5.00 – Tickets available here from Tues 26 June

Britain’s biggest author, David Walliams, brings his unique sense of humour to the Book Festival as he shares with you his latest hilarious bestseller, Bad Dad. Be inspired to get writing your own funny stories as David explains how he became the fastest growing children’s author in the UK.

He’s hilarious!

Well that’s certainly true! Codename F young programmer Unmol Singh believes that David Walliams is an obvious pick for the Festival this year:

If you read the book once, you’ll just want to read it again and again.

While co-programmer Jonathan Watton wanted to think about the influence of celebrity on widening people’s understanding of critical issues like human rights and acceptance of people’s differences, saying:

Whatever David writes, people will listen.

This in turn can open the door to wider discussions on the theme of freedom amongst young people.

Be part of the wider discussion on 23 August. Tickets cost £5.00 and we recommend booking in advance.

You can find a full list of the Year of Young People: Codename F events here.

You can book tickets for any of the events in the Codename F strand from Tuesday 26 June online, by phone 0345 373 5888 or in person. You can find all of the booking information on the Book Festival website at www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/how-to-book

About the Year of Young People 2018

In 2018, Scotland puts its young people in the spotlight, celebrating their talents, contributions and creating new opportunities for them to shine. The Year of Young People 2018 is a year-long programme of events and activities that will give young people in Scotland the opportunity to show the world what they are made of.