Children’s books with Floella

Adults and children can meet Floella Benjamin OBE and hear all about her two new books, 'Arms of Britannia' an autobiography charting her teenage years as a black teenager living in Britain  and 'My Two Grandads,' portraying how the two sides of her family play in a Yorkshire brass band, and a Caribbean steel pan band. University Music Scholars will provide musical accompaniment to further illustrate the story of My Two Grandads.

Floella said ‘Books are a starting point for children to use their imagination and take them to a different place you can take them on a path that will lead to something fantastic. When you realise imagination can get you through anything in life, take you to a place where you can cope with anything, it makes you feel so good.’

She added, ‘That’s why EXEtreme Imagination is going to be so good for children, really get them fired up. There are lots of children in Devon and Exeter who don’t realise their full potential, who need to be given opportunities to excel through literature. EXEtreme Imagination will give them the ability to create, then they can go on to become anything they want.’

An exhibition about grandparents to co-inside with the publication of Floella’s new children’s book will be on display at the Northcott Theatre with images created by pupils from Drakes Primary School, East Budleigh. Famous artist Alan Cotton worked with the children creating pictures from the stories and pictures of their grandparents. In collaboration with the Devon Art Advisory Group, Cotton supported the children in both their individual paintings, drawings and writing about their grandparents as well as two large group collages.

Cotton said, ‘It has been great fun working with the children and seeing the amazing, imaginative work they have produced. I am looking forward to seeing the exhibition at the Theatre and meeting Floella, after the performance, with a group of children.’