Michael Rosen, Cressida Cowell, Malorie Blackman, Jacqueline Wilson, Patrice Lawrence, David Baddiel and Michael Morpurgo in biggest ever Empathy Day LIVE! event on 10 June

Leading children’s authors and illustrators including Michael Rosen, Cressida Cowell, Malorie Blackman, Michael Morpurgo, Patrice Lawrence, David Baddiel, Jacqueline Wilson and Holly Bourne will lead the biggest ever Empathy Day LIVE! programme, as the festival returns for its fifth year on 10 June. Organised by not-for-profit EmpathyLab, the day helps young people learn more about empathy, and uses books to help them experience its transformational power. This year’s activities aim to encourage children across the UK to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Backed by major children’s publishers, the day has gained a groundswell of support amongst schools, libraries and families, inspired by a growing body of scientific research showing that empathy is a learnable skill and that stories can help us understand each other better.

Founder Miranda McKearney OBE said: Empathy opens our eyes to other people’s perspectives. It’s a powerful force for hope and change, a catalyst for a kinder and more united society. The pandemic has seen a wave of community based social action. Let’s use the momentum of Empathy Day to build a much sharper empathy focus into our education system and society.”

Launched by Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell, the Empathy Day LIVE! programme takes audiences through three key steps: READ, CONNECT and ACT. It includes an Empathy Day draw along with Rob Biddulph; an “authors’ secrets” creative writing session with Malorie Blackman, Bali Rai and Holly Bourne; an Empathy Mirror body language game with A. M. Dassu and Adisa; making empathy resolutions with Nathan Bryon and Rashmi Sirdeshpande; and a listening lunch with Jacqueline Wilson. Michelle Robinson, Jay Hulme and Patrice Lawrence will run an Empathy Exhibition learning more about each other by sharing precious objects.

Central to this year’s programme is a new call for families to take their own Empathy Walks led by authors and illustrators including Joseph Coelho, Michael Morpurgo, Patrice Lawrence and Jane Porter who will share their own examples throughout the day. This year’s programme also puts young people centre stage, with young empathy leaders sharing what empathy means to them and talking with Kwame Alexander about empathy as an antidote to prejudice and Welsh Children’s Laureate Eloise Williams about combatting loneliness.

For adults, there’s a cutting-edge evening conversation with authors Catherine Johnson, Michael Rosen and David Baddiel. They will talk with Professor Dr Robin Banerjee, an expert in developmental psychology, about the role of empathy in society and using books to nurture young people’s empathy skills.

All Empathy Day LIVE! events can be watched live on EmpathyLab website empathylab.uk/empathy-daylive-2021, and will be available to watch back.

As in previous years, EmpathyLab has a host of exciting free resources in the run-up to the day to support families, schools and libraries. Specialist toolkits for primary and secondary schools, early years setting and public libraries are available now at empathylab.uk/empathyday-2021.

For families, EmpathyLab’s Family Activities Pack, available from 11 May, will offer ten writing, drawing, crafting, listening and reading activities to complete in Countdown Week, 3-9 June. Twelve exclusive new short stories – Empathy Shorts – will be simultaneously launched on the EmpathyLab website. This year’s brand news stories have been created by authors Katya Balen, Sue Cheung, Jenny Pearson, Cath Howe, Penny Chrimes, Amy Raphael, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Matt Abbott, Jane Porter, Alyssa Hollingsworth, Michelle Robinson and Eloise Williams.

To engage children through visual learning, the #ReadForEmpathy Illustrators’ Gallery also returns from 3 June with nine exquisite new illustrations from Rebecca Cobb, Natsko Seki, Chris Riddell, Dunja Jogan, Kirsti Beautyman, Onyinye Iwu, Elena Arevalo Melville, Beatrice Blue and Salvatore Rubbino.

These new resources follow the organisation’s Read For Empathy book collection, launched to great acclaim in January. The 50 books for 4-16 year olds were chosen by 12 expert judges for their ability to build young people’s empathy skills.