How Stories Hold Us: In Conversation with Joseph Coelho
About the event
‘If all the world were springtime, I would replant my grandad’s birthdays so he would never get old’, writes Joseph Coelho OBE in If All the World Were…, a picture book about a young girl’s love for her grandad, and what happens after he dies.
In this special conversation, Joseph (former Waterstones Children’s Laureate) joins Carnegie-longlisted children’s author Dr Joanna Nadin to explore why stories and poetry can feel like a lifeline when life is overwhelming. Drawing on their work writing for children and teens about loss, eco-anxiety, and change, they talk about how books can help young people name difficult feelings, and how adults can use storytelling to open honest, age-appropriate conversations.
The session shares practical, compassionate ideas for supporting bereaved children at home and at school, and for using reading and creative writing to make space for grief without rushing it away.
