Plans to bring a new children’s book festival to Aberdeen have taken a step forward with Aberdeen City Libraries securing national funding.
Aberdeen City Libraries is one of thirteen local authority library services across Scotland to share £230,000 through the Public Library Improvement Fund, administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Eleanor Sheppard, Executive Director, Families and Communities, Aberdeen City Council, said: “This funding is fantastic news for our library service and will help create exciting new opportunities for young people to develop skills, confidence and creativity through books and storytelling.
“By involving young people from the start, the festival will reflect their ideas and voices while encouraging more families across the city to discover the joy of reading.”
The ‘Abdn Book Fest: Once upon a Silver City’, will support young people, library staff and the wider community to co-create and develop a city-wide programme of author events.
Young people will have the opportunity to learn how to organise and run their own mini-festivals, help design branding for the festival, and use their experience to inform, shape and deliver a larger festival in November 2027.
The project will be delivered in collaboration with partners, including North East Scotland College, and will build on the library service’s work to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and strengthen co-creation when developing services for young people and families.
The Public Library Improvement Fund supports creative, sustainable and innovative projects that help public libraries respond to local priorities and changing community needs.