20 - 25 October 2026
About the Event
For ages 4 - 12 and their families. Children must be accompanied by a paying adult.
Presented in association with Frinton Summer Theatrel to celebrate the National Year of Reading 2026
What do you think your pet gets up to when you're away on holiday? Does your cat have a secret job? Does your dog have a disco?
In this perfect event for young artists and storytellers learn how to tell your own hilarious story with award-winning storyteller Ross Montgomery.
In his brand new picture book, Pog and Pickle’s Great Escape, two guinea pigs go on the adventure of a lifetime when their owners leave for holiday. In this hands-on, interactive special ‘Big Top’ session for ages 4+ and their families, Ross will reveal how as a writer he does everything to bring pets to life as unforgettable animal characters on the page to building fantasy worlds, and you can help him create the beginnings of a brand-new story.
You’ll be inspired with all sorts of ideas about how unusual, exciting and strange life can be, and how it makes the best inspiration for stories. Expect entertainment, fascinating facts and plenty of jokes!
Ross Montgomery started writing stories as a teenager, when he should have been doing homework. He has worked as a pig farmer, a postman and a primary school teacher. He says that spending his childhood reading everything he could get his hands on, from Jacqueline Wilson to Beano annuals, taught him pretty much everything that's worth knowing. He has now written over twenty books for children. In picture books, he is the author of Ten Delicious Teachers, Penguin Huddle and Ant Party, all, like Pog and Pickle’s Great Escape, illustrated by Sarah Warburton, and the Shake-Up Shakespeare series. Space Tortoise was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Award and included in the Guardian's Best New Children's Books.
In his work for older readers, I Am Rebel was the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year. His debut novel, Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door, was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book of the Year and Branford Boase Award. The Chime Seekers and The Midnight Guardians have been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Award, and The Midnight Guardians was in The Sunday Times’ Top 100 Modern Children’s Classics, shortlisted for the Costa Book Award 2021 and a one of the Guardian’s Children’s Books of the Year.
Ross will be happy to sign his books for older readers at the end of the event, too.
Ross Montgomery … cannot help but cheer you up. ― The Times
