- This event has passed.
ILFU Children’s Programme: Gary Northfield (7+)
You’re probably familiar with the hilarious books about Julius Zebra, the fearless zebra who becomes a gladiator and goes on adventures in the Roman Empire, Egypt and England. Now, Gary Northfield, the writer of the Julius Zebra books, is coming to Utrecht especially for the ILFU!
To tie into the theme of this year’s Children’s Book Week, ‘Worden wat je wil’ (Becoming what you want’, Edward van de Vendel will interview Northfield about his book Hoe word ik een gladiator? and about the profession of ‘author-illustrator’. That’s because Gary Northfield not only writes the books; he also creates all the illustrations himself! There are also two Dutch illustrators: Floor de Goede and Hedy Tjin. They aren’t writers, but they produce amazing drawings and comic strips for children’s books.
Edward van de Vendel is himself an award-winning children’s book author and poet. During the first half of the programme, he will interview Gary Northfield, Floor de Goede and Hedy Tjin. Part of the conversation will be in English. You might have had some English at school, but Edward will also translate what they talk about so children who don’t speak English can follow the conversation. Together, they’ll tell all about how to make drawing your profession. And of course, you’ll have an opportunity to ask any questions you might have.
In the second half of the programme, Gary Northfield will teach a drawing workshop to help you learn all the tricks of the trade. Floor de Goede and Hedy Tjin will also show how they create illustrations. And afterwards, you can ask them all for their signatures!
About Gary Northfield and Julius Zebra
Gary Northfield is a cartoonist and children’s book writer. Julius Zebra is one of his popular book series, with five stories and a collection of jokes. The fun books make you laugh while you learn about the history of the ancient Roman Empire. The Guardian, a big newspaper in England, gave the first book in the series a 9/10 score and called it a ‘page-turner’: a book you can’t stop reading!
About Edward van de Vendel, Floor de Goede and Hedy Tjin.
Edward van de Vendel is a writer and poet. He has written around 100 children’s books, many of which have won awards such as the Woutertje Pieterse Prize, 12 Zilveren Griffels and the German Youth Literature Prize. He has also translated many children’s books into Dutch, including the books about Julius Zebra. His latest work, Rekenen voor je leven, with illustrations by Floor de Goede, has recently been released.
Floor de Goede is a comic strip illustrator. He draws a semi-autobiographical strip about Flo every day, and he has now collected seven book collections of the comic strip. Together with Edward van de Vendel, he has illustrated a variety of children’s books, including Heel heel heel vies boek, Opa laat zijn tenen zien, Miss Eenhoorn and Sofie en de pinguïns.
Hedy Tjin works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. She enjoys working with paper and pen, wood and acrylic paint, but also with textiles. Her work varies from large murals for The Black Archives to illustrations for Het Parool, Viva and the children’s book Sala en Monk. Ons samen by Neske Beks.
The ILFU is hosting this programme in collaboration with De Bibliotheek Utrecht and Studio Kleine Lettertjes, makers of Het Mooie Kinderboekenfestival.
Doors open: 14:30
Start: 15:00
Regular admission: € 12.00
Library members admission: € 6,00
ILFU members: € 9.60
Corona admission ticket and ID
For a performance in the cinema and theater in the Neude Library, a QR code via the CoronaCheckApp or paper corona proof is required from 13 years and older: a vaccination certificate or a negative test result (max. 24 hours old) or a corona recovery certificate. From the age of 14, showing ID is also mandatory. Look for more information on this page. See this page for more information.