Children's books shouldn't sit still and behave What a thrill to be guest artistic director of Bath Festival of Children's Literature. If I'd told myself a dozen or so years ago that I'd be involved in such a thing, I'd have been amazed - just as I was once amazed to find myself to be a children's author. But life's like any decent story: try to plan it, and off it runs in unexpected directions. I'm an intelligent, educated adult. I thought I'd write books for intelligent, educated adults. So I did, or tried to, for several years. Then a new story, Skellig, started telling itself in my head. When I began to write it down, I knew it was the best thing I'd done, that it was the culmination of everything I'd written before, and that it was a book for children. I was astonished and liberated. New artistic possibilities opened up. When the book was published, I found myself entering a new world, that of children's books, a world populated by folk who really do believe that storytelling can change lives and reshape the world. Children's literature is a place of great experimentation. Like children themselves, it can be hilariously playful and deeply serious. It isn't content to sit on shelves and behave. It is inquisitive, exploratory - and difficult to categorise. It tells tales of rabbits and ducks, of vampires and zombies, of ordinary kids in ordinary homes, of love and death, and explores the most profound, joyful and troubling aspects of human experience. It experiments with narrative and form, with the shape of the page and the shape of the book. It is where literary culture is constantly renewed. We overlook this world at our peril. It is, and always will be, at the heart of our cultural life. The pessimists doubt this. They tell us that the book is dying, that children don't read. They need to be taken to literary events to see that children do read, that they read with passion and intelligence and excitement, that they ask the most perceptive questions and give the most vivid responses. Children defy adult attempts to categorise artistic form. Tell a child the story of Hansel and Gretel and soon she'll be tiptoeing through the house as if it were a forest, trembling with dread, peeping into the kitchen as if a witch might be hiding there. The story on the page becomes a story told by the voice and a story acted out in space. The Bath Festival of Children's Literature broadcasts the fact that children are active, interested citizens. It reaches out to the disaffected and the underprivileged. With the support of Bath Spa University, I'm delighted to be part of the team building on the great work of the founding directors, John and Gill McClay. My particular interests? I love the way that words and pictures work together. It seems daft to me that so many people assume "picture books" are just for the very young, that "growing up" as a reader involves leaving pictures behind. We will celebrate the importance of visual imagery, and highlight the great work being done by artists in books for older children. There aren't enough foreign titles translated into English and published by UK publishers. We hope to explore ways to bring about change. We plan to involve children in the events: as members of discussion panels, as interviewers, as readers of their own work. We will encourage cross-disciplinary creativity - books used as the basis for drama, music, art. The success of this festival has been marked by the size and enthusiasm of its audiences. Writers and artists love to come here, where they know they are valued. Children love to come, where they will be inspired, challenged and entertained. Wouldn't it be great if more adults came along, to see what is happening? Wouldn't it be great if "adult" authors came along to be refreshed and energised? And wouldn't it be wonderful if those politicians who assume such power over children's lives came along not for a photo opportunity, but to watch in silence, and to learn, as the young citizens of our world play their part in this vibrant section of British cultural life. You're all invited. Come along. The Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature will run next autumn; bathkidslitfest.org.uk