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Bestselling author of The Roman Mysteries and P K Pinkerton series, Caroline has mastered Greek mythology, Roman quests and more recently time travel; and now she's sharing her secrets for writing great stories!

Chitra Soundar led us on an exciting journey of sound and colour through India.

Emma Carroll signing books. A talk that opens with ‘Duran Duran’ and embarrassing childhood pictures of a bad 70’s haircut, is only going to go one way – absolutely hilariously. ‘The Letters from the Lighthouse’ author kicked things off at Barnes Methodist Church, discussing all things old and new in the life…

Robin Stevens, author of the wildly popular Murder Most Unladylike series, told Barnes Children’s Literature Festival how her unique childhood – moving from America aged five to live on-campus at an Oxford college with her parents – has heavily influenced her writing.

Charming storyteller and illustrator, Petr Horáček, introduced the fascinated children in his audience to his wonderful world of greedy goats, blue penguins, and colourful puffins.

Ross Welford developed an interest in magic and mythology as a child although his first foray into the world of writing was not in children’s literature. It was after having children of his own he decided to write children’s books, he told his audience at Barnes Children’s Literary Festival 2019.

It isn’t just about writing. I was creating ideas, stories and inventing fictional worlds long before I became a novelist. Stories are all around us if you use your eyes and ears.

Appearing at the festival to promote her latest work and discuss how she developed the bestselling Horrid Henry Series, she said she will now be moving into focus on new characters for the publishers Faber and Faber. After completing the 25th Horrid Henry book, she said it was a good number at which to stop.

With his natural wit and easy story telling ability, Frank Cottrell-Boyce had the audience in the Barnes Marquee in stitches from the get-go as he introduced his new book, ‘Runaway Robot’.

Looking particularly fabulous in her tailored black suit and red, glittering gloves, Lauren Child poses the question: “Do we ever think about nothing?” While today’s social pressures can make us feel like we must always be doing something productive, Lauren asks us to stop and consider allowing ourselves time to do nothing at all.

From learning a special Tale Tenders salute (make an opening book and then a 'T' with your hands) to encouraging a lot of laughter through making silly faces and roaring like a monster, children were learning the importance of books from Terry and Brenda.

What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read? Probably Adrian Mole, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much while reading a book as I did while reading that book, which I read while laughing a lot - more than any other book I’ve ever read, in fact.