Hotels near Imagine Children's Festival

Take the kids to the Southbank Centre during the February half-term and treat them to Imagine Children's Festival, the annual children's literature festival that pulls words off the page. With two weeks worth of activities, there's a huge amount of literary events to choose from including readings, storytelling, beatboxing and poetry. This year highlights include appearances from children's laureate Malorie Blackman, Jacqueline Wilson, Charlie and Lola author and illustrator, Lauren Child, who chats to her childhood friend Cressida Cowell, the author and illustrator of the How To Train Your Dragon books. CBeebies' Cerrie Burnell reads extracts from her book 'Snowflakes' with live illustration from Lauren Ellen Anderson, and there are plenty of interactive events in which young ones can take part - including a new multi-sensory show by Oily Cart for babies aged six months to two years. There are also events aimed at older children aged 10 and over including an interactive drawing workshop and a creative-writing workshop with author Emma Carroll for 8-12 year-olds. It's also worth dropping in for one of the free activities in the foyer spaces including Dalston's Land of Kids festival which makes a special pop-up at the festival bringing a host of interactive and immersive events with it.