Over the last 10 years we have been very busy welcoming book lovers from all over the world. In that time we have....

  • Welcomed 700, 000 visitors to our visitor centre in the Ouseburn Valley
  • Launched 18 exhibitions celebrating the wonderful world of children's books and their creators
  • Toured 12 exhibitions to 37 venues across the UK (which have been enjoyed by huge 1.3 million people)

Julia Donaldson at the launch of her exhibition A Squash and a Squeeze - Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson in 2012

  • Looked after The Gruffalo for 546 days
  • Uncovered 1 unpublished Enid Blyton manuscript
  • Organised events with over 1000 authors, illustrators and artists from across the world

Oliver Jeffers during his Artist Residency in 2011

  • Served 24, 523 cups of coffee in our lovely café (and not just to the Marketing team!)
  • Designed and built 4 magical storytelling chairs
  • Enthused 100, 000 school children with a love of books and reading through our Learning Programme at Seven Stories and a further 70,00 through our outreach activities.

Local school children explore A Viking's Guide to Deadly Dragons with Cressida Cowell in 2013

  • Sharpened 17, 245 pencils (though it seems like more)
  • Launched 3 digital exhibitions which have been viewed by over 5,000 people
  • Spent 3600 days dressed as our favourite characters from children's literature

Families celebrated their favourite pirate stories in 2009

  • Sewn the ear back on Julia Donaldson's Squash and a Squeeze Pig 4 times
  • Performed 172 Mixed Up Fairy tale Performances
  • Gained 1 National accreditation (and 1 National Lottery Award)

Mollie King, from The Saturdays, presents Programme Director Alison Gwynn with our National Lottery Award for Education in 2013

  • Read over 10,900 stories in our daily storytelling sessions
  • And on our most popular day EVER 935 people met Lauren Child

Phew - and now we are just about to refurbish 1 visitor centre and install 3 new exhibitions in just 98 days.

Tell us your favourite moments from the last ten years below or tweet us using #7STurns10. Who knows what the next ten years will bring!