As primary school children across Victoria head back to school after months of lockdown, State Library Victoria will launch its first ever virtual Children’s Book Week with free live events, workshops and podcasts kicking off Monday 19 October.


Inspired by this year’s book week theme, Curious Creatures, Wild Minds, the Library has designed an immersive online program to stimulate curiosity and spark creativity.

A special children’s edition of the Library’s popular Bibliotherapy podcast will give kids the chance to experience the healing power of stories and poems with resident bibliotherapist, Susan McLaine.

Over two episodes, Bibliotherapy for kids will encourage children to engage with their imaginations by listening to beloved children’s stories and poems.


For the creatives, renowned artist and children’s book illustrator Isobel Knowles will host an interactive animation workshop series, teaching kids how to inject life into everyday objects through recorded dialogue and stop-motion animation. This workshop series is supported by
Gandel Philanthropy.


Children will learn the latest digital and analogue techniques from the author of Owl Know How, Too Much for Turtle and Wide Big World.


Celebrated illustrator and author Jess McGeachin will be a special guest at the Library’s weekly livestreamed Storytime sessions on Wednesday 21 October.

The author/illustrator of Fly and The Lost Library has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s new illustrator award 2020.

Children’s Book Week, established in 1945 by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, is a yearly celebration of books and local children’s authors and illustrators, bringing together libraries and schools across the country. This year, book week will run from 17–23 October.

Program details

All the Library’s book week activities are free, open to anyone and can be accessed via the Library website.

Bibliotherapy for kids

Episode one will be available from 9.00am, Monday 19 October. Episode two will be available from 9.00am, Wednesday 21 October. The episodes can be listened to via all major podcast apps.

Animation workshops

The animation workshops will run on Wednesday 21 October and Tuesday 27 October at 4.00pm.

Bookings, now open via the Library website, are required.

Storytime

No bookings are required for Storytime, which will be live-streamed on 21 October via the Library website.