Renowned author, R. L. Stine, will headline the 2022 Shreve Memorial Library Children’s Book Festival.
The Shreve Memorial Library Annual Children’s Book Festival returns Saturday, May 7 on the beautiful campus of LSU Shreveport. The festival, last held in 2019, is a family-friendly, daylong literary event that features children’s book authors and illustrators, costumed characters, and interactive games and activities for children of all ages. R.L. Stine, author of the internationally bestselling Goosebumps series, will headline this year’s event that is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the festival is free and open to the public.
“We are so excited to be able to hold the Children’s Book Festival again this year and to once again be able to bring this event to the people of Caddo Parish and northwest Louisiana,” stated John Tuggle, Shreve Memorial Library Executive Director. “The library is dedicated to encouraging a love of reading, promoting early literacy, and creating young readers. What better way to do that than to bring in authors such as R.L. Stine, who is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Goosebumps series this year, to encourage children to read, stretch their imaginations and bring stories to life.”
Award-winning author R.L. Stine, who has been writing horror stories for young readers for over thirty years, will lead the festival’s lineup of featured authors. Best known for his Goosebumps and Fear Street series, Stine’s books came to define horror for a generation of avid young readers. His bestselling Goosebumps series quickly became a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 400 million copies in the United States. The Guinness Book of World Records cited Stine as the bestselling series author in history.
A new live-action Goosebumps series is also coming to Disney+. The series “follows a group of five high schoolers who unleash supernatural forces upon their town and must all work together – thanks to and in spite of their friendships, rivalries, and pasts with each other – in order to save it, learning much about their own parents’ teenage secrets in the process.”
In addition, the festival will also feature Jennifer L. Holm, New York Times bestselling children’s author and recipient of three Newberry Honors for her books Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise. Holm is also known for her collaborative work with her brother, Matthew Holm, on several graphic novel series including the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series, the bestselling Sunny series, and the Squish series, which is now a streaming show on HBO MAX.
New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Mbalia, whose debut middle-grade novel Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and Brenda Maier, picture book author of The Little Red Fort, Peeping Beauty and The Little Blue Bridge, will also be among the festival’s featured authors.
Children, parents and all festival attendees will have an opportunity to meet each of these authors, get their autographs, and see the authors bring their stories and experiences to life on stage.
Local authors and illustrators are encouraged and invited to participate in the festival by reserving a 10’x10’ booth space. Booth spaces are available for $25 each and include listing in the Children’s Book Festival Guide, table and chairs. The deadline for reserving booth space is Thursday, April 21. Those interested in being a part of the festival are asked to contact Emily Horan at (318) 226-4980 or by emailing ehoran@shreve-lib.org.
Community groups, organizations and businesses are also invited to join Shreve Memorial Library in Literacy Lane, a special area of the Children’s Book Festival where community partners will come together to promote a love of reading and lifelong learning in a fun, interactive way. Organizations are encouraged to sign up for a free booth space to provide a FREE activity or game for children and festival attendees. Those interested in being a part of Literacy Lane are asked to contact Samantha Bonnette at (318) 213-4992 or via email at sbonnette@shreve-lib.org.
