Events and Visits

• Kingston Readers Festival - April 24th 2009
• North East Book Awards - April 30th 2009
• Hexham Book Festival - May 2nd 2009
• Europäische Kinder und Jugendbuchmesse e.V - May 13th-17th 2009
• Calderdale Book of the Year - June 17th 2009
• School Library Association Conference - June 19th 2009
• Lancashire Book of the Year - June 20th 2009
• Bolton Book Award - June 26th-27th 2009
• UKLA Children's Book Award - July 9th 2009
• Greenbelt Festival August - 28th-September 1st 2009
• Appledore Book Festival - September 2009

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.