A special new initiative as part of the 2025 Guernsey Literary Festival’s education programme will see a signed children’s book by author Nadia Shireen gifted to every Year 5 student in the Bailiwick, thanks to education programme sponsors Rothschild & Co.

The education programme has been one of proudest achievements of the Festival over the years, and this year will take a host of visiting authors into local schools for special events during the festival, which runs from 25 April to 4 May.

Nadia Shireen, one of the writers going into schools, has been described as one of the ‘best and brightest picture book creators working in Britain today’ (The Observer, London). Her debut picture book Good Little Wolf received a mention in the BolognaRagazzi Opera Prima Award and won the UKLA Book Award.

Other books include The Bumblebear, which was distributed to over 700,000 children as part of BookTrust’s Time to Read campaign, as well as Billy and the Beast and Billy and the Dragon. Nadia has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Week Junior Book Award, the Laugh Out Loud Book Awards and the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards, and has been Writer-Illustrator in Residence for BookTrust.

During her visit to Guernsey, Nadia will be taking schoolchildren on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of Grimwood, her best-selling comedy adventure book, described by Richard Osman as ‘funny, anarchic, and gloriously silly’. It will be a Grimwood Party of thieving eagles, dramatic ducks, riotous rabbits and one particularly party-mad crow.

The audience will also discover where Nadia finds her inspiration and learn more about what it takes to create your own story. Children will have pencils at the ready as Nadia shows, step-by-step, how to draw some of her fantastic characters.

Nadia's is a joint schools event taking place at Beau Sejour.

The Education Programme takes events and visiting authors into schools and festival venues across the island to support learning and inspire new ideas. Rothschild & Co have been sponsoring and supporting the GLF Education Programme since the Festival launched 13 years ago. The Guille-Allès Library plays an important part in coordinating the programme of events in schools.

Writers going into schools between 25 April and 4 May include Dapo Adeola, Julian Fisher, Sophy Henn, Amy Jeffs, Jonnie Peacock, Nadia Shireen, Robin Stevens, Jordan Stephens, Louie Stowell, Pari Thomson, Imtiaz Dharker, Hollie McNish, Dawn O’Porter and Huw Lewis-Jones.

Tickets, available through the website, will go on sale to the general public on 15 February. Festival members (membership costs £20 through the website) will be able buy tickets from 10 February.