The Dorchester Literary Festival School Programme ran for the first time in 2023 alongside the main festival events which took place throughout Dorchester. Last year, nearly 2,500 students had the opportunity to see a live author visit.
The main aims of this programme are:

To provide author visits for students within the MAT plus other Dorchester schools;

To encourage author visits whilst based in a more rural location;
Ensure all visits are fully inclusive so there is no cost to any student.
Running events during the school day allows for all students to attend;

This year, the children met the author James Turner and the illustrator Steve May who have published the comic graphic novel Poo Crew Adventures!

During the talk, James and Steve discussed how they'd come up with the idea for the story and how they drew the illustrations.

They also read the story to the children. Finally, the children had the opportunity to draw a character from the Poo Crew Adventure!