Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour

The Scottish Friendly Children's Book 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 is made possible by the support of Scottish Friendly(this link will open in a new window), who have sponsored the Children’s Book Tour for over 25 years. Previous tours have included Julia Donaldson, Alex Wheatle, Joseph Coelho, and Cressida Cowell.

In addition to touring, The Scottish Friendly Book Tour regularly hosts virtual events, which are open for all to attend online at no cost to your school or venue.

Explore below to find out more about upcoming virtual events, upcoming tours in your local authority, and events and start the registration process.

Upcoming events

Rashmi Sirdeshpande (virtual event – open to all) – Tuesday 4 June 2024

Audience: Age 7–12

Deadline to register: Noon on Friday 31 May

Tour: Nadia Shireen– 10–14 June 2024

Local authorities: Clackmannanshire, Fife, Perth and Kinross and Stirling.

Audience: P3–5

Deadline to apply: Friday 26 April

Tour: Danielle Jawando – 9–13 September

Local authorities: East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow

Audience: S2–6

Deadline to apply: 12 noon, Friday 31 May

Tour: Rob Biddulph – 18–22 November (dates TBC)

Local authorities: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Midlothian, West Lothian

Audience: P1–4

Deadline to apply: Friday 31 May

We also regularly partner with Keep Scotland Beautiful. Find out more about upcoming Keep Scotland Beautiful events(this link will open in a new window) on their website.

Hospital visits

As well as running school events, the Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour also runs storytelling sessions and author visits in hospitals in Scotland.

Find out more about our hospital visits

Scottish Friendly Assurance

Scottish Friendly Assurance has been sponsoring the tour for over 20 years(this link 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 link will open in a new window).