Telling Tales literary festival a hit despite the rain

Nothing could have dampened the mood of young readers at children's literary festival over the weekend, not even a very rainy Sunday.

Dozens of children showed up to Royal Botanical Gardens' Hendrie Park in full rain gear eager to meet their favourite authors.

Author Lawrence Hill, one the headlining authors at the festival was glad to see the return of in-person readings.

It feels great to finally be meeting audiences again and to be seeing facial responses and body language and signing books," said Hill. I'm grateful that we had Teams and Zoom during the worst of the pandemic, I'm grateful I had a chance to speak to people in whatever way was safe and possible. But I'm also grateful to be able to meet people in person again. There's nothing like it."

Hill was at Telling Tales to meet with his fans and read from his new book, Beatrice and Croc Harry."

Beatrice and Croc Harry," the author's first novel for children brought dozen of young readers to his talk at the Rose Garden tent.

Hill remarked on how children are completely frank with him. A child would come right up and say something like, Mr. Hill, how many more books do you expect to write before you die?' or I had to read this because my teacher made me.' Children don't have the filters adults have. So they speak quite honestly, which is lovely," Hill said.

The author also said he takes moral and emotional welfare" into consideration when writing for children.

I'm more conscious of kind of telling a story that will engage and that will entertain and that will address some serious issues, but won't hurt too much."

Dragons in a Bag" author Zetta Elliot was also at Telling Tales Sunday. She was born in Ajax but spent most of her life in New York.

I have been wanting to connect with Canadian kids for a long time. The pandemic forced me to slow down and everything moved online. I don't love presenting online because you don't get that instant feedback but I can talk to kids in Tokyo, Alaska and Nairobi. It made it possible to connect with kids all around the world."

The author, who held a creative writing workshop, said there is nothing like being in the same space as kids and seeing their excitement in person. To be at Telling Tales, specially with the parents who were really engaged and involved is really gratifying."

Elliot also said reading and festivals like Telling Tales are great ways for families to bond.

I think stories connect us. They are really what helps us build, form and preserve community."

Author of Martin and the River," Jon-Erik Lappano was happy to see people showing up despite the rain to enjoy a bit of storytelling. It's such a magical thing as an author to be in person again and get to see children's faces light up when your telling a story."

Lappano held a creative writing workshop for children 8 to 12 years old, where young readers learned to describe the places that matter to them.

To have the children share with me their experience with the world and how they connect with nature."

Malaika's Surprise" author Nadia Hohn had a reading in French at the Nature Tales tent.

We had a smaller group so I asked a few questions in the audience. I think that just from my experience the children who were listening had different levels of French comprehension. But it seemed positive overall," Hohn said.

Hohn said she has a preference for presenting in-person since it's easier to see the audience's reaction and their involvement in the storytelling.

It helps to make reading fun for kids. I think kids have a lot of demands of their time in terms of other things they could do like playing video games, but it's always nice to come back to books. There's something that books can give that other forms of entertainment don't quite do," said Hohn.

Mother of 14-month-old Phoebe, Barbara Gao believes the festival is great for exposing children to literature and books from an early age.

It's a lot of fun as long as you have proper rain gear. It's great to see all of the events put out by the library, the gardens and let the kids to have fun with other children," Gao said.

Beatriz Baleeiro is a reporter at The Spectator.bbaleeiro@torstar.ca