Conference
The Federation’s annual conference, organised by one of our local children’s book groups in collaboration with the National Executive, takes place every year in spring, in different locations around the country.
Talks, debates, seminars, workshops and exhibitions all feature at the conference which provides a great opportunity to hear authors and illustrators talk about their work, and to socialise with others who are passionate about children’s books and getting children reading.
FCBG Conference 2025
Weaving Magic with Words
The 2025 conference was held at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School St Catherine’s Campus from 11th to 13th April.
Speakers included Jackie Morris, Manon Steffan Ros, Karin Celestine, Louisa Reid, Lesley Parr, Barry Cunningham, Piers Torday, Ash Bond, Claire Fayers, Alex Wharton, Kate Williams, Mamma G, Chris Smith, Hannah Gold, Gill Lewis, Neill Cameron, Billy Partridge, Sophy Henn, Sandra Saleh-Reyhani, Struan Murray, Greg Stobbs, Scott Evans, Zoe Antoniades, Matt Goodfellow, Thomas Flintham, Ben Hoare, Lily Dyu, and Nicola Davies. We will be celebrating the 45th anniversary of Jill Murphy’s classic picture book Peace at Last, 25 years of Chicken House, 10 years of Rock the Boat, Usborne’s new series Pia’s Pet Club, and the publication of Jessie Burton’s Hidden Treasures.
Our lovely logo was created by Jackie Morris.
FCBG Conference 2024
Saving the World, One Book at a Time
The 2024 conference was held at Woldingham School, Caterham from 5th to 7th April.
The conference opened on Friday with the ever popular publishers’ showcase. After dinner we had Sam Sedgman followed by an Evening of Poetry and Music with Roger Stevens, John Dougherty and Laura Mucha.
On Saturday we had Cressida Cowell and David Almond celebrating anniversaries, Brian Conaghan and Nathanael Lessore, Jenny Pearson, Peter Bently and Jennifer Killick, Mariajo Ilustrajo, Farrah Riaz, and Kim Hillyard. Michael Morpurgo celebrated his 80th birthday year with us a storytelling session before the gala dinner and David Fickling celebrated a life in publishing and 10 Years of David Fickling Books after the dinner. There were also seminars aimed at helping you make the most of NSSM and NNFN as well as Julia Green discussing how to be an author and graphic novelist Steve Webb.
On Sunday we started the day with Lisa Williamson followed by an inclusion panel made up of Sarah Hagger-Holt, Lisette Auton, and Karen Owen. After the break we had Pari Thomson, Jess French, and Rachel Delahaye with Christopher Edge closing the conference.
Throughout the weekend we had the wonderful conference bookshop provided by Norfolk Children’s Book Centre and on Friday and Saturday the Publishers’ Exhibition was open.
Many thanks to Olaf Falafel for our wonderful logo.
FCBG Conference 2023
The 2023 conference was held at Rugby School.
We had an exciting line up of speakers including the Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, speaking after our Gala Dinner which celebrated 40 years of Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. Other speakers included M.G.Leonard, A.M Dassu, Phil Earle, Anna Goodall, Dapo Adeola, Nathan Byron, Ross Montgomery and Nicki Thornton. Other anniversaries celebrated with cakes and cocktails included the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Judith Kerr, 10 years of Red Shed and the 5th anniversary of The House with Chicken Legs. We had some great panel discussions on the power of non-fiction to make and inspire new readers, graphic novels for younger readers, YA fiction, Representative Voices, Humour Hooks and Fantastical and Magical Stories.
Thanks to David Barrow for our wonderful logo.
FCBG Conference 2022
The 2022 conference was hosted by the National Executive, at Woldingham School, Caterham from 8th – 10th April. The speakers included past Laureates, Michael Morpurgo, Anne Fine, Lauren Child and Cressida Cowell, current Laureate Joseph Coelho, and past Welsh Laureate, Eloise Williams.