Manchester’s Festival of Libraries is counting down to take off and begins with Look for a Book, which takes place from Friday 23 May to Sunday 1 June. A free Family Friendly activity, this year’s challenge promises cosmic fun with stargazer extraordinaire Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

500 copies of Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock’s brilliant book Am I Made of Stardust? will be awaiting discovery in and around Greater Manchester’s 133 libraries, the green spaces of Manchester’s Spinningfields, the galleries of People’s History Museum and across the Bee Network during the half term holidays (Friday 23 May to Sunday 1 June). This is a game of finders keepers, with riddles to solve and clues to follow, and for some lucky winners there will also be the chance to meet Maggie in person during the festival.

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock says, “Libraries are such amazing places to fuel your rocket and jet off into all the places books can take you, for families to get together, and spend time having fun together. To take part in Look For A Book, follow your local Manchester library on social media to get the clues, then head to get your hands on your copy and get exploring.”

Previous Look for a Book participants have included Lenny Henry, Nadia Hussain and Konnie Huq. This year’s event takes place from Friday 23 May to Sunday 1 June and awaiting discovery are 500 copies of Am I Made of Stardust? together with an activity sheet and certificate. In amongst them will be 25 golden tickets giving the finder the chance to meet Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Suitable for ages 5 plus.

Families can continue their adventure when the full Festival of Libraries lands from Wednesday 4 June to Sunday 8 June. The programme is available here.

Festival of Libraries’ partners include: Archives+, Central Library, Chetham’s Library, John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester Poetry Library, NHS Libraries, The Portico Library, Working Class Movement Library, University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Institute Cervantes Library, Levenshulme Old Library, Greater Manchester libraries (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan), Bee Network and Spinningfields.

For further information visit: https://www.manchestercityofliterature.com/project/manchester-libraries-festival/