Now in its eighteenth year, the Children's Book Festival has established itself as a major focus for the children's books community in Ireland and is by far the largest cultural event of its kind in the country. The event celebrates and encourages reading amongst children and teenagers. This year's festival has been extended to cover the whole of October, building from last year's which attracted some 60,000 young people to over 1500 events. The festival will start on Wednesday 1st October when Skulduggery Pleasant creator Derek Landy will be kicking things off in style with a special launch party in which children are encouraged to dress up as their favourite Skulduggery character. There will also be a particular emphasis on connecting with teenage readers as famed authors Cathy Hopkins and Karen McCrombie will appear. New initiatives for 2008 will include the participation of Cumann Scríbhneoirí Óga is Úra na Gaeilge in writing projects with children from their local area, a touring exhibition of artwork from Amnesty International's forthcoming title We Are All Born Free to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The vast majority of events are free, though pre-booking is recommended.
