15 Days at the North East Teenage Book Awards

I was in Newcastle at the end of last week for the North East Teenage Book Awards. 15 Days Without a Head was on the shortlist alongside some fantastic books: Sufiya Ahmed's Secrets of the Henna Girl, Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley, Louisa Reid's Black Heart Blue, Slated by Teri Terry and one of my favourite books of last year, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. It was an honour to find myself in such esteemed company.

Students, librarians, teachers and parents from local schools braved a mini blizzard to attend the event. It was great having the opportunity to meet and talk with so many enthusiastic readers, all of whom had read, discussed and voted on the shortlisted titles. Each author was introduced by a student from a participating school – so I'd like to once again thank Hannah for the fantastic introduction she gave when it was my turn.

Huge congratulations to Teri Terry who was announced as the winner. Judging by the queues at Teri's signing table Slated was a very popular choice, so if you haven't read it – check it out! The second book in the series – Fractured – comes out in March.

Earlier in the day, I was invited over to Charles Thorp in Ryton to meet the school book group. Not only did they choose 15 Days Without a Head as their group favourite, they also gave me home-made chocolate cake! We had a great morning discussing books, music, cats and coming up with ideas for a story about a band of vampire musicians!

Next it was a short trip through the snow to Walbottle where I spent the rest of the day with year nine. After giving them a guided tour of my somewhat unorthodox route to becoming an author, we spent the afternoon doing some writing and (I'll admit) having the occasional chat about football!

Thanks to Beth, Gill and all the students at Charles Thorp, Leah and the staff and students at Walbottle for their welcome and hospitality. A big thumbs up also to Karmjeet from OUP who drove me round in the snow all day and to everyone at Seven Stories, especially Lorna who handled book sales, photography and cake wrangling duties. Finally, special thanks to Eileen Armstrong, Alec Williams and all the staff and students involved in the North East Teenage Book Award.

3 Days at the Edinburgh International Book Festival – Photo Diary

An early start on Day 1 …

Dawn Departure … mostly sleep walking

By the time I got to London I was awake enough to appreciate the splendour of the architecture.

Now that's what I call a ceiling!
Kings Cross Departures Hall 6:30am

Four hours later …

I can see the sea … the coastline near Berwick

Welcome to Edinburgh

The sight that greeted me as I stepped out of the station.

Red Carpet Treatment at the Roxburghe Hotel

The book festival site from my bedroom window. By day …

and at night.

On the way in to prepare for my event

Playwright and all round nice fella Alan Gordon
from Strange Town Theatre Company introduces Sara Grant and I

Sara talks about The Edge
while I model the back view of our T-shirts

Appealing to the audience …

Under attack from a peach frock

Gloria joins us onstage for some author improvisation

Post-event book signing. Note the scar (thanks Dom)

A photo with fellow SCBWI author Teri Terry 
(Thanks to Stephanie McGregor for the photo)

Day 2: I had a free day on Wednesday, so took the opportunity to have a look around the festival and catch a few of the events. It was great hearing some of my favourite authors talking about their books and being able to chat with a few of them afterwards. I also got the chance to meet up with Keith Gray, one of my all time literary heroes!

Walking around the site you couldn't help but notice the series of festival speaker portraits taken by Chris Close.  There were some great images, but this familiar hirsute gentleman was probably my favourite …

Philip Ardagh and his famous beard

Day 3: On Thursday I headed east to Haddington for a writing workshop with students from Knox Academy. The event was a joint venture between the Edinburgh Book Festival Schools Outreach Programme and The Lennoxlove Book Festival. I must thank Rebecca from Lennoxlove for driving me back to Edinburgh and for taking the photos and selling books at the event. To find out more about the Lennoxlove Book Festival in Haddington (2nd-4th November), visit http://www.lennoxlovebookfestival.com

I had a great time at the school and the hour seemed to pass far too quickly. The students came up with some superb ideas and great pieces of writing. Thanks to Bill Plain and Dave Swinney for making me so welcome, and to Millie, Charlotte, Rebecca, Ruaridh, Katie, Calum, Owen, Bethan, Lucy, Hannah, Angus, Kalya, Rona, Daniel, Calum, Eilidh and Rachel for being such a pleasure to write with.

Explaining the Story Sprint Relay rules

Discussing strange breakfasts with Millie and Charlotte

I had a great three days in Edinburgh and would like to take the opportunity to thank all the book festival staff, with special thanks to Janet Smyth for inviting me to take part. Thanks also to Jennie Younger at Oxford University Press for taking the event photos and for fantastic tour support as always.

For more information on Alan Gordon's Strange Town Theatre Company visit http://www.facebook.com/teachmefringe

Summer Reading Challenge

The summer months have always been a great time for reading. What could be better than a few hours in the sun (or shade!) with a mug of tea and a good book? 



An important part of getting ready to go on holiday as a teenager was choosing the books to take with me. Looking back now, the details I remember are often linked to the books I was reading: having my copy of The Two Towers stolen on a ferry or spooking myself with Robert Westall's The Scarecrows in a rainy, wind-blasted cottage in the Lake District. My copy of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not still bears the greasy stains of Ambre Solaire and the odd grain of Dorset sand stuck between the pages. Over the past two days I've been scanning the blue summer sky for aircraft trails while reading Elizabeth Wein's Codename Verity.

I'm a little too old to join in the Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge to read six books before the schools go back in September, but thought I'd have a go anyway. Here are my six summer reads (plus the one I've already started!)

Leave me a comment and tell me which books you'll be relaxing with this summer.

15 Days Without a Head nominated for Anobii First Book Award 2012

15 Days Without a Head has been nominated for an award! Wahey!

The Anobii First Book Award celebrates the wealth of new writing included in the Edinburgh International Book Festival programme each year. Every debut novelist and every overseas writer whose words are published in English for the first time is included in the award. 

Unlike other literary prizes, this one is selected by you, the readers who champion new writing and who are responsible for making superstars out of debut novelists. 

Many of the writers who participate in our Festival programme go on to forge international careers. The Anobii First Book Award enables you to play your part in identifying a future literary legend by reading the books, coming to see the events and, of course, by placing your vote. 

This year there are 45 outstanding titles in the running for the Anobii First Book Award. You can browse the shortlisted titles here and vote for your favourite. You can also rate and review the First Book Award titles on Anobii.com, a new website for book lovers.

A future literary legend? That would be nice … anyway, if you enjoyed reading 15 Days Without a Head and would like to vote for it, I'd be very grateful. Of course if you have an alternative favourite on the list – such as those by my fellow Edge authors Sara Grant and Katie Dale, or Teri Terry's Slated – the choice is yours. Whichever title gets your vote, you will automatically be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win a copy of every book on the list. Can't be bad!