International Boyface Day, Thursday 1st December

What is International Boyface Day? by James Campbell

The Boyface books seem to have a peculiar appeal to all sorts of children. When I wrote them, I tried to do so without including anything topical or specific to any particular era. My hope was that they could be read forever. I also tried to make sure that the themes in them are eternal. These themes are family, loyalty, friendship and the continual journey of a young person learning how to deal with the world and themselves. Boyface is very innocent but learns all sorts of things about the world as he progresses through his journey as a stripemonger.

The plan with International Boyface Day is that schools will be able to access some great online workshops with me and Mark Weighton. Mark specialises in showing children how to draw in ways they probably haven't encountered before. He treats every child as an artist. In my workshops I start from a similar assumption. That everyone can create stories. I use the Boyface books to show how I turned ideas into books and then encourage the children to do something similar.

My hope is that this day will grow each year until we are able to add all sorts of things to the day. Quantum Physics. Zoology. Disgusting Pancake Making. Etc.

Schools can register interest in International Boyface Day via https://www.boyface.org/sign-up.