Marta Altés kicks off the 2019-20 Arts Council NI Author Tour as all primary one pupils receive her book

Published on: 15 November 2019 Author: Kathryn Anderson

In October, BookTrust NI welcomed Marta Altés to Northern Ireland as the first author in our 2019-20 Author Tour, which coincided with every primary one child receiving a free Time to Read pack.

Marta meets children from St Josephs Primary School, along with Damian Smyth of Arts Council NI and Liz Canning of BookTrust NI

The Time to Read packs, which include a free copy of author-illustrator Marta's brilliant book Little Monkey, were distributed to all 25,000 primary one children in Northern Ireland to take home and share with their families. With the help of the Education Authority Schools Library Service, all schools received the packs at the beginning of the autumn term.

To help celebrate the book distribution, the schools author tour, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, saw Marta visit four schools over the course of two days to run reading and craft workshops - all designed to inspire, engage and help to create the authors and illustrators of the future.

The schools involved included: St Joseph’s Primary School Carryduff, Millennium Integrated Primary School, Saintfield, Moorfields Primary School, Ballymena and Parkhall Primary School, Antrim.

Marta was thrilled to visit Northern Ireland schools and give out her books in person.

'One of my favourite parts about my work is getting to visit the children and watch their creativity grow. It’s incredible that my book will be in so many homes around Northern Ireland. I hope that Little Monkey and her adventures in the jungle not only inspire a love of reading but also remind children that even when you're small you can do amazing things!'

The visits were a real hit with primary one pupils. 'Marta engaged beautifully with the children and made the story very interactive. The children loved listening to the story and completing the different actions which really brought the story to life. [They] still talk about Marta’s visit and have enjoyed showing their parents the display of jungle vines in the corridor,' said Katherine Elliott of Parkhall Primary School.

Liz Canning, BookTrust Northern Ireland added. 'We are delighted to be able to share Little Monkey with children across Northern Ireland with the help of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and The Education Authority Schools Library Service.

'We really hope the children in the sessions are inspired to get reading and that every child receiving the packs shares a little bit of that magic.'