Tamarind will be on the road again this autumn, sharing the list with education practitioners. We’re visiting the Hilton hotel in Croydon on 27th September to meet local needs for inclusive resources. All the schools in the borough have been invited. It’s always a great exhibition to be at.

Here are some pics from last year’s show:

Pore over a range of resources that you couldn’t find elsewhere. Equip your school with inclusive resources. Enjoy workshops and meet the people who create and distribute multicultural books. Tamarind will be among the exhibors at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) book fair. Several titles will be selling at only £1 each.

Multicultural Resources Fair
Wednesday 29th September 2010
12pm – 6.30pm
CLPE, Webber St, London SE1 8QW

CLPE is holding its seventh multicultural book fair where specialist booksellers and publishers display and sell their books and resources. The book fair will be of interest to teachers, early years practitioners, parents, librarians and students. www.clpe.co.uk

Last month, Class 3O at Brecknock Primary School studied the work of Tamarind author Verna Wilkins. They each wrote her a letter asking questions about her life. On Thursday, Verna visited Class 3O in person!  Their teacher Siobhan reports… 

Class 3O have been studying many books by the author Verna Wilkins, including biographies of Stephen Lawrence and Benjamin Zephaniah, as part of the Literacy Unit Authors and Letters. When they wrote to her to ask her to come and visit, imagine their surprise when she did! Especially as they were to first to hear her read her new book, Abdi’s Day which is not due out until September 2010.  Here are some of the class’ comments about her visit:

Danae: “It was delightful that what I wanted to happen happened on Thursday because Verna Wilkins came when we wrote letters to her.”

Josh: “It was extremely good that our dream to meet Verna Wilkins came true.  She is an extremely nice woman and she told us about how she wrote her books.”

Merrill: “It was amazing to see Verna Wilkins and her telling us her new story, Abdi’s Day.  I asked her if she would ever write her autobiography and she said she would get to work on it when she gets home!”

Amal: “It was so outstanding to meet Verna Wilkins because I really want to be an author when I grow up and she told me everything about how to be a writer.”

Donna Panton’s independent business, Colourful Kids, was founded only about a year ago, but it is already established in North West London as a great source of books and toys that reflect children from diverse backgrounds.

In November 2009, Colourful Kids held a launch event to celebrate its new online buying tool. Tamarind supplied activity packs and posters for children attending the event, which we’re told went down a storm. After an inspiring speech from Tamarind founder Verna Wilkins, £500 worth of books was sold in 30 minutes!

On October 21^st, My Big Brother JJ author Odette Elliott met the children at Salusbury Primary School in North West London. Salusbury is billed as the most ethnically diverse school in Brent, which is quite a claim in the most ethnically diverse borough in London! Odette addressed the whole of Year 2, who had all read JJ with their teachers. Each class had five copies of the book. Odette answered the children’s questions and conducted a signing.

On the 5th – 9th October, the Shoreditch Trust held its first children’s literary festival in Hoxton Square. At the StarLit Festival, which coincided with National Children’s Book Week, pupils aged 5-15 from local schools participated in a week of workshops, book sales and signings. The guest authors included former children’s laureate Michael Rosen and RHCB author Catherine Johnson.

Tamarind authors and illustrators were invited to host workshops. Gillian Swordy, first-time author, joined the festival from Gloucestershire, and was delighted to see her book, Reading between the Lions, fly off the shelves.
Karin Littlewood, illustrator of Siddharth and Rinki and The Dragon Kite, led teachers and children from Burbage Primary in drawing their own dragons on a flowing frieze. Pupils at Randal Cremer Primary each designed their own noisy city scene with Carl Pearce, illustrator of The Silence Seeker and The Night the Lights Went Out.
Specialist children’s bookseller Victoria Park Books facilitated sales, and all the Tamarind titles sold out.

On Wednesday 7th October,  illustrator Patrice Aggs came up from Sussex to meet author Odette Elliott and launch their picture book My Big Brother JJ. The launch was held at a school local to Odette, Leopold Primary School, Willesden. The event was covered in the local press, and sales were organised by the Willesden Bookshop. Every copy of JJ sold out on the day, and 50 Tamarind catalogues were also snapped up by parents. Willesden Bookshop have arranged a further book signing date with Odette for lucky locals.