Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour

The tour hosts fully-funded events with authors, illustrators, poets, storytellers and other creative practitioners in every local authority in Scotland to inspire a love of reading, writing and illustration in schools. The tour also visits schools in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Previous tours included Julia Donaldson, Chris Riddell, Joseph Coelho, Pamela Butchart and David Almond.

Following the announcement from Scottish Government about the latest COVID-19 restrictions the virtual author tours planned for January – March will go ahead with a limited schools audience. These live events will be available to watch on demand. Applications will be open to anyone who wants to join live.

Watch events on demand

Upcoming events

Black History Month (25–29 October)

Apply now for live events with award-winning author Alex Wheatle and guests from Glasgow Museums, International Slavery Museum, and Edinburgh Caribbean Association.

• Black History Month with Alex Wheatle (S2–6)
• Black History Month with Alex Wheatle and Miles Greenwood (S2–6)
• Black History Month with Alex Wheatle and International Slavery Museum (S2–6)
• Black History Walking Tour with Alex Wheatle and Lisa Williams (S3–4)

Environment (27 September–1 October)

This month, The Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour will be touring virtually and in-person for a new series of events all about the environment. Authors and illustrators joining us include Abi Elphinstone, Jess French, Isabella Tree and Allira Tee.

Applications to join these events live are now closed. Don't worry if you didn't sign up – we'll share video recordings to our on demand library(this will open in a new window) so you can catch up later.

• Let's Save Our Planet with Jess French (P1–3)
• Let's Save Our Planet with Jess French (P4–7)
• When We Went Wild with Isabella Tree and Allira Tee (P1–4)
• Our Environment with Abi Elphinstone (P4–7)
• Let's Talk About Our Environment with Abi Elphinstone, Isabella Tree and Jess French (P5–7)
• Inventing Magical Beasts with Abi Elphinstone at Edinburgh Zoo (children and families)

Scottish Friendly Assurance

Scottish Friendly Assurance has been sponsoring the tour for over 20 years(this will open in a new window). Through its support, The Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour reaches an average of 6,000 children every year in a vast range of communities, from rural schools with as few as 8 pupils to 2,000 seat theatres.

Scottish Friendly Assurance is a progressive and modern financial services group, which has been around for over 150 years. It provides investors and families with a wide range of financial products.

You can find out more about Scottish Friendly on their website(this will open in a new window).