Author Visits: Newton Prep

I met some fantastic young readers and writers last week at Newton Prep.  I was invited by the brilliant school librarian Nelia Beyers to talk to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3, and I was delighted to see what a wide range of reading they'd been doing, and what interesting questions they had for me.

I was particularly excited to find these beautiful pictures inspired by William Blake's poem The Tyger in the school library.  This is one of my own favourite poems, and it's one of the inspirations behind TYGER: the new book that I'm currently writing!  

Some very thoughtful young writers were asking me after the event for writing tips.  I've done a series of tips on this blog, and you can find them all by clicking this link.  We didn't quite have enough time to answer all the questions that everyone had, so if anyone from Newton Prep would like to ask me another question, or to say anything about the visit or my books, this is the place to do it!

Author Visits: Ixworth Free School

Last month, I had the great pleasure of visiting Ixworth Free School as part of a visit to schools in Suffolk organised by reading champion Philip Daws.  I talked to children from Years 7, 8 and 9 about writing and books, and I read to them from my new book Phoenix.

I always enjoy visiting schools and meeting readers.  However, when someone says that one of your books changed their lives, that means more than anything!  So I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ixworth for the wonderful welcome – and I'd like to wish you all good luck with your reading, and your writing!

We didn't have quite enough time to answer all the questions that everyone had, but if anyone would like to ask another question, or to leave me a comment about the visit or about my books, this is the place to do it!