When Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote The Secret Garden in 1911 she could never have imagined the powerful effect it would have on so many lives.

The Manchester-born author, who proved herself a capable storyteller from childhood, began selling her first stories to magazines when she was just a child.

The tale of two miserable, disagreeable, motherless children brought together through circumstance might not sound promising, but their discovery of themselves through the secret garden has captured readers for over a century. The centenary is being celebrated by the Children’s Books History Society on Saturday 15 October at The Church Hall in London’s Covent Garden, starting at 10am.

Speakers include Dr Ann Thwaite and Professor Gretchen Gerzina, authors of two biographies of Frances Hodgson Burnett, who have recently been “in conversation” in a similar study day in the US.

Carole Dunbar will speak on Freedom, Restriction and Class in the work of Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Dr Dennis Butts will talk on The Politics of the Secret Garden.

For further details and booking - tickets are pound;20 - email rkirkpatrick.molesworth@virgin.net

WHAT ELSE?

A wealth of resources for activities based around the famous story have been shared by marlin, such as worksheets, playscripts and background information.

Find them and more at www.tes.co.ukresources004.