{"id":9017,"date":"2026-02-07T11:45:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T11:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017"},"modified":"2026-02-13T07:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:30:16","slug":"were-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017","title":{"rendered":"We&#8217;re all in!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"9017\" class=\"elementor elementor-9017\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-56ff043 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"56ff043\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a5169e5\" data-id=\"a5169e5\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ee731f0 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ee731f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>At Monty Lit Fest, we believe in the power of the written word. Whether you\u2019re a parent sharing a first board book with a baby; an avid reader or someone who picks up a book only occasionally, we know that words have the power to change lives.<\/p><p>That\u2019s why we want to support this year\u2019s National Year of Reading, a UK-wide campaign designed to help more people rediscover the joy of reading. The aim is to inspire more people to read, visit libraries, connect through stories and develop a life-long love of reading in all its forms.<\/p><p>The campaign comes at a time when reading for pleasure is on the decline, having to compete with a wider range of alternatives and distractions than ever.<\/p><p>Of particular concern is the fact that fewer children than ever seem to be enjoying books. In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.literaturewales.org\/lw-news\/open-letter-january26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">open letter<\/a>, Nicola Davies, Children\u2019s Laureate Wales and Si\u00f4n Tomos Owen, Bardd Plant Cymru, called for urgent action to reverse the decline, including making libraries in schools mandatory and urging adults to role-model reading themselves, to \u201copen the door for young people, to the delight, wonder, and learning waiting inside every book.\u201d<\/p><p>Cultural change is never easy, but the Laureates remind us that we can all play a role in shining a light on the power of reading. And, in our own small way, that\u2019s what Monty Lit Fest will be doing over the weekend of 12<sup>th<\/sup>-14<sup>th<\/sup> June this year.<\/p><p>We\u2019re particularly proud that our Mini Fest will be back, the chance for our children to meet the authors and illustrators who bring books to life and to explore just how much fun the world of books can be.\u00a0<\/p><p>And we\u2019ll also have a full programme of fiction and non-fiction for older readers, everything from fiction to farming; history to hedges; music, art and fashion.<\/p><p>We\u2019ll be launching this year\u2019s programme on Friday March 13<sup>th<\/sup> at Montgomery Town Hall with our Extra Fiendish Festival Quiz courtesy of Festival favourite, Marcus Berkmann. It\u2019s another chance to pit your wits against our resident quizmaster \u2013 and, of course, to start planning your Festival weekend.<\/p><p>Tickets for the launch are on sale now, <a href=\"https:\/\/ticketlab.co.uk\/series\/id\/2511#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online<\/a> and at The Montgomery Bookshop or Ivy House Cafe, Montgomery.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Monty Lit Fest, we believe in the power of the written word. Whether you\u2019re a parent sharing a first board book with a baby; an avid reader or someone who picks up a book only occasionally, we know that words have the power to change lives. That\u2019s why we want to support this year\u2019s &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">We&#8217;re all in!<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[196],"tags":[198,24,197],"class_list":["post-9017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monty-lit-fest-2026","tag-childrens-laureate-wales","tag-monty-lit-fest","tag-national-year-of-reading"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.1 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>We&#039;re all in! - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At Monty Lit Fest, we&#039;re doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here&#039;s why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We&#039;re all in!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At Monty Lit Fest, we&#039;re doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here&#039;s why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1265\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"505\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clare Grist Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@montylitfest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@montylitfest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clare Grist Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168\"},\"headline\":\"We&#8217;re all in!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Children's Laureate Wales\",\"Monty Lit Fest\",\"National Year of Reading\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Monty Lit Fest 2026\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\",\"name\":\"We're all in! - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"At Monty Lit Fest, we're doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here's why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png\",\"width\":1265,\"height\":505},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"We&#8217;re all in!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\",\"name\":\"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Monty Lit Fest\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg\",\"width\":1758,\"height\":770,\"caption\":\"Monty Lit Fest\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/montylitfest\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/montylitfest\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168\",\"name\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Clare Grist Taylor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"We're all in! - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","description":"At Monty Lit Fest, we're doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here's why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"We're all in!","og_description":"At Monty Lit Fest, we're doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here's why.","og_url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017","og_site_name":"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/","article_published_time":"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1265,"height":505,"url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Clare Grist Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@montylitfest","twitter_site":"@montylitfest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Clare Grist Taylor","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017"},"author":{"name":"Clare Grist Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168"},"headline":"We&#8217;re all in!","datePublished":"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017"},"wordCount":388,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","keywords":["Children's Laureate Wales","Monty Lit Fest","National Year of Reading"],"articleSection":["Monty Lit Fest 2026"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017","name":"We're all in! - Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","datePublished":"2026-02-07T11:45:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-13T07:30:16+00:00","description":"At Monty Lit Fest, we're doing everything we can to support the 2026 National Year of Reading. Here's why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","width":1265,"height":505},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?p=9017#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"We&#8217;re all in!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/","name":"Monty Lit Fest - G\u0175yl Ll\u00ean Maldwyn, Montgomeryshire Literary Festival","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#organization","name":"Monty Lit Fest","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MLF-Logo-with-dates.jpg","width":1758,"height":770,"caption":"Monty Lit Fest"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/montylitfest\/","https:\/\/x.com\/montylitfest","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/montylitfest\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/729cdaf0ef43a4bd5fdd957262da5168","name":"Clare Grist Taylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60e83215293da2396619790810095507f68b8d548ff7f49b422fd1c0fb76cbd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Clare Grist Taylor"},"url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Year-of-Reading-Feb-26.png","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9017"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9123,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9017\/revisions\/9123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montylitfest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}