Calligraphy at NCBF Gala Day

I’VE been an avid reader since I was little and I still adore children’s books.

Stories like The Tiger Who Came to Tea and The Very Hungry Caterpillar still hold their appeal for me.

Reading

James and Sophie sharing a story

Fortunately, my children have followed suit and we love hitting the library in search of new books – or to borrow our favourites time and time again!

Last year, we headed to Woodhorn Museum, in Northumberland, for the Northern Children’s Book Festival (NCBF) Gala Day and this year it’s practically on our doorstep, in Sunderland.

We’ve booked up to see author, illustrator and fellow Sunderland AFC fan, Simon Bartram (James went through a period of wanting Bob, the Man on the Moon, every night) and author and poet Craig Bradley (James is doing rhyming words at school).

susan moor

Susan Moor

But we’ll also be taking advantage of the drop-in sessions, including one led by calligrapher Susan Moor, chair of the Northumbrian Scribes.

She will be showing people how to do calligraphy in the style of the Lindisfarne Gospels and anyone who goes along is in for a treat as Susan is an excellent tutor – patient, kind and knowledgeable. I know first-hand as a member of one of her classes!

The Lindisfarne Gospels, of course, is an illuminated manuscript produced around the year 700 in a monastery off the coast of Northumberland at Lindisfarne.

It is now on display at the British Library, which describes it as “among our greatest artistic and religious treasures”.

Find out more about this remarkable book and the art of the writing within its pages when the NCBF Gala Day hits Sunderland City Library and Arts Centre and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens on Saturday, November 22, from 10am to 4.30pm.

1 Comment

  1. Jo Davis on November 10, 2014 at 1:13 pm

    Enjoy Angela… I am a collector of children’s books specially illustrated, from years gone by but miss the time when my boys were at that age when I could indulge them & me in a day such as this! Make the most of it!

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