Russell Brand's Pied Piper among the Imagine festival's temptations – newsflash

Russell Brand will be reading from his first children’s book The Pied Piper of Hamelin, with Chris Riddell providing live illustrations. Photograph: Dean Chalkley/PR company handout

We are very excited to be the first ones to tell you what’s happening at the Imagine children’s festival 2015, which is held at the Southbank Centre in London from 9-22 February.

So here, drum roll…, are just some of the highlights:

• Judith Kerr, the beloved author of The Tiger Who Came To Tea, who will read from her semi-autobiographical book for older children When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
  

This year’s festival will be graced with a rare appearance from Judith Kerr. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe/Eamonn McCabe.

• Russell Brand will be giving an enthusiastic (or even slightly giddy) reading of his first children’s book The Pied Piper of Hamelin – with Chris Riddell providing mesmerising live illustration
• They’ll be readings and events with authors including Philip Ardagh, Cerrie Burnell, Steven Butler, Cathy Cassidy, Lauren Child, Jonny Duddle, Neil Griffiths, Petr Horacek, Anthony Horowitz, Gareth P Jones, Liz Pichon, Kate Saunders, Axel Scheffler, Helen Skelton, Holly Smale, Jeremy Strong, Guardian children’s fiction award winner Piers Torday, Philip Womack and David O’Doherty. So it’s quite a lineup!
• Festival visitors can get arty with workshops and live drawing from Laura Allen Anderson, Suzanne Barton, Jennifer Gray, Jane Bull, Benji Davies, Sarah Dennis, Emma Dodd, William Grill, Faye Hanson, Hilda Offen, and Gary Parsons
• More fun with book-inspired theatre including Charlie and Lola’s Best Bestest Play and gorgeous theatre installations to celebrate Alice In Wonderland’s 150th anniversary, which is celebrated in 2015
• … and if the days at the festival just aren’t long enough, children are also invited to The Big Sleepover right on the Royal Festival Hall stage

Last year children got to hop into Grandpa Joe’s Giant storytelling bed. There will be more wonders in 2015. Photograph: Southbank Centre

The festival is in London, so the Guardian children’s books site is joining in online so young people all over the world can take part in the mega literary fun. We’ve asked the children who make up the Festival Ideas Cloud (and decide what goes on at the festi) to guest edit the site for one week from 14 February 2015.

Super fans of Guardian children’s books may remember that the Festival Ideas Cloud did the same last year – catch up with everything they did here – wonder what they are going to get up to next year? Watch this space!

The Southbank Centre’s Imagine children’s festival is sponsored by the Book People and over half the events are free of charge - Twitter fans can keep in touch with latest news on #ImagineFest.