Events and Visits

• Life, Death and Other Grown-Up Subjects - Oxford Literary Festival - 24 March 2012
• Edinburgh Book Festival - August 2012 date tbc

School visits

I am happy to visit upper primary and secondary schools. I am very flexible, and willing to work around your requirements.

Some of the things I do include:

Author Talk

In this, I read from Ways to Live Forever and Season of Secrets and talk about the process of making a book. I start from the original idea and show how that develops into a manuscript. I tell my story of how I found a publisher, and how my manuscript became a book, bringing along an annotated draft, a proof copy and early dummies. I also talk about where I get my ideas from, what it's like being a writer and what advice I found useful. I leave time at the end for questions and signings.

Creative Writing Workshop

I run several creative writing workshops, which vary depending on the age of the participants. Some examples of what I do include exercises in description, story-starting exercises and free-writing techniques. By the end of an hour, you should come away with a piece of writing or the germ of a story, which can be developed later.

I can also do a simple reading, or a question and answer session. Both of the above sessions last an hour, but can be lengthened or shortened as necessary.

For schools visits, I charge £300 for a full day and £200 for a half day, plus VAT. This is in accordance with Society of Authors' recommendations. For other events, such as talks at bookshops or requests to open libraries etc, please ask - I'm very flexible and willing to give discounts.