PHOTO VIA ORLANDO FAMILY STAGE
The Florida Children’s Book Festival (Website) makes its debut February 21-22 at Orlando Family Stage (Website) in Loch Haven Park. The free two-day event features 30 celebrated children’s authors and illustrators with programming running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Families can attend author conversations, meet writers and illustrators during signings, shop at an on-site bookshop, and see professional theatre performances based on children’s books.
The festival includes panel discussions across three venues on topics ranging from graphic novels and mysteries to history and early reader series. Saturday highlights include “Celebration of You: Black Voices and Stories” at 9:30 a.m., featuring Carole Boston Weatherford, Kelly Starling Lyons, Vashti Harrison, Nicole D. Collier, Jerry Craft, and Sherri Winston. Other panels that day include “Heart, Humor, and Big Feelings,” “Graphic Novels: Art and Story,” and “It’s a Mystery,” about crafty mysteries that keep kids guessing.
Sunday features “Let’s Draw! So You Want to Be an Artist?” at 10:30 a.m. with illustrators leading hands-on drawing sessions. Authors include James Ponti, Kate Messner, Pablo Cartaya, Laurel Snyder, Natalia Sylvester, Taryn Souders, and many others across middle grade, picture books, and graphic novels. Other notable panels include “History Brought to Life” about helping kids understand the past through powerful stories, and “Heroes Like Us” featuring stories about kdis who face real life challenges.
Theatre performances require separate tickets. “Lilly and the Pirates The Musical” and “Tiara’s Hat Parade” (based on the book by Kelly Starling Lyons) start at $20. Theatre for Very Young audiences ages 1-5 includes “Yo, Ho, Ho! Let’s Go!” and “Puppet Play Day” with tickets at $15 for children and $20 for adults.
The festival also features food trucks, a vendor market with local authors, and roaming storytime throughout the day with Story Sprites. Admission to the festival is free, but advance reservations are recommended for author conversations and ticketed theatre events. The full schedule and reservations are available HERE.
