15 Days at Pop-Up Festival Booklinks

A few weeks ago I visited two schools in East London as part of the Pop-Up Festival Booklinks Project. 

Here are a few highlights from the day …

Thanks to all the staff and students at Our Lady's Convent High School and Clapton Girls' Academy.

City of London School Literary Festival

One of the most rewarding moments for any author is when readers write to say they've enjoyed reading one of your books – that the story has connected with them in some way – made them think, or laugh or cry! 

I received such a message from a Year 10 student at City of London School earlier this year.

City of London School from the Millennium Bridge

Not only did Devang say how much he had enjoyed reading 15 Days Without a Head, but he invited me to take part in the school's Literary Festival in December. 

Which is how I came to be on the banks of the River Thames on a very wet Friday morning a few weeks ago, taking photos of the lights in the driving rain …

The school were great hosts and I had a really enjoyable day, taking part in a number of events at the festival – one in the impressive Asquith Room over looking the river, and another at nearby St Paul's Cathedral school, where I met a great bunch of Year 7s and fellow festival author Tom Palmer.

The Asquith Room

The festival was organised largely by the students themselves and boasted an impressive line-up of guests. I must thank Devang for inviting me in the first place and Jake for the extremely well researched introductions. Also thanks to David and Tim for looking after me and making me so welcome at the school.

Kenilworth School and the 2012 Kids' Lit Quiz

Last year I took part in the Kids' Lit Quiz for the first time. I was in an author team with Fiona Dunbar, Sita Bramachari and Sophia Bennet and we won! No thanks to me, I should add. If I remember correctly, my single contribution was the answer of Mulch Diggums to an Artemis Fowl question! I had a great afternoon though and was delighted to be invited back to Broxbourne School for this year's heat.

The Cat in the Hat – Quizmaster Wayne Mills

The Kids' Lit Quiz is an international competition that has been running for over twenty years. Teams from all over the world compete to take part in a World Final, which this year is being held in South Africa.

The quiz was started by Wayne Mills, after attending a prize giving at his children's school. "There were lots of prizes being given out for sport and music and science, but nothing to award achievements in reading!" he told me. Wayne now spends his time travelling across the world, writing all the questions and acting as quizmaster in every single heat of quiz – an incredible feat in itself. Not to mention the fact he has to keep up to date with all the latest book releases …

This year at Broxbourne, author SC Ransom and I were given the task of keeping score. (Luckily Sue's maths is much better than mine.) It was another great afternoon – just to be in a room full of people so enthusiastic about books and reading, is quite a buzz.

The final took place two days later, at the suitably grand Royal Court Hotel in Coventry. On the morning of the event, I was invited along to nearby Kenilworth School to talk to a group of students about 15 Days Without a Head and my life as an author.

 In the library audience that morning were the four members of the Kenilworth Kids' Lit Quiz team, who had, a few days earlier, won a place in the final.

The Kenilworth team doing their best to ignore the nutter
in the background trying to get in on their picture!

It was a real honour to be asked to lead Emily, Andrea, Fin and Charlie out into the hall to take their seats for the quiz.

The great hall ready for the quiz to start

On this occasion, Kenilworth didn't get to go home with the trophy, but it was a hard fought contest. I was amazed at the speed and knowledge of the participants and once again struggled to answer more than a handful of questions myself!

Fellow OUP author Matt Dickinson brought along his mascot
complete with lucky pants! (His team didn't with either though!)

It was a fantastic occasion and all the young people involved clearly had a great time. Huge credit must go to Wayne Mills and all the library staff, teachers and authors who give up their time to organise and support the events. The Kids' Lit Quiz is a superb way to recognise, encourage and reward the act of reading. Long may it continue.

Kids' Lit Quiz website
Kids' Lit Quiz UK
Photo Gallery from the 2012 UK Final

Thanks to the staff and students at Kenilworth School for their hospitality. Thanks also to John for the photos.

Characters come to life at Lockers Park School Book Day!

On Friday evening I was invited to Lockers Park School to join in their Book Day celebrations. Students were dressed as characters from some of their favourite books, so I found myself having a conversation with Stanley Yelnats from Holes and Torak from Wolf Brother when I arrived!

I had a great evening talking with the boys about books, writing and comics. Thanks to Jeanette Harlow and all the staff and students for making me so welcome.

For a full report and pictures, visit the Lockers Park School website.

Writing with Year Eight at Icknield Community College

On Tuesday I visited Icknield Community College in Watlington to talk to Year Eight about 15 Days Without a Head and my route to becoming an author. (I also had the chance to share the cover artwork for Waiting for Gonzo for the first time!) 

The day's events included the opportunity to do some writing with three groups of students. We had some great discussions and the workshops produced a number of excellent and very funny pieces, including one about the horrors of going clubbing with your gran! (There's a great comic novel in that idea, I'm certain.) 

Here are a few pics from the day …

A fantastic display greeted me on arrival in the library!

Telling stories with Year Eight students

In the library with Beth, Seren, Luke and Sam.

Thanks to all the staff and students at Icknield Community College for making me so welcome, with special mention to Penny Didcock, Natalie Wheeler and Mr Hunter. Thanks also to The Book House in Thame for supplying copies of 15 Days Without a Head and to Beth (pictured above) for managing the sales.

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

Getting ready for some author improvisation at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Tomorrow morning I will stumble bleary-eyed onto the milk train and head north for the start of three days at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

My Tuesday evening event with fellow Edge author Sara Grant kicks off at the RBS Imagination Lab at 6:30. 

A double act to rival Morecambe & Wise?
French & Saunders? Wallace & Gromit?

As well as talking about our books – 15 Days Without a Head and Dark Parties – we'll be attempting a bit of live story generation with help from the audience and … well, you'll find out if you're there. (Those who can't make it will have to wait for the video.) We're calling this Author Improvisation, or – How to set yourself up to fail majestically in front of a room full of people … I'll let you know how it goes.

Then on Thursday morning, I'm looking forward to a trip to Haddington to do some writing with students from Knox Academy, as part of the festival schools outreach programme.

Should be a fun few days – hope to see some of you there.

Don't forget, both 15 Days Without a Head and Dark Parties have been nominated for the Anobii First Book Award at this year's festival. See what else is on the list and cast your vote here. Thanks.

Tickets for the Tuesday evening event can be purchased here.

Visit to Simon Balle School, Hertford with Books@Hoddesdon

On Wednesday I visited Simon Balle School in Hertford with Elaine from Books@Hoddesdon, to talk to a group of Year Nine boys about 15 Days Without a Head and my route to becoming an author. We had a great time. Here are a few pics …

Caught posing with my book again!

Talking to Year Nine boys about Undiscovered Voices and how to get published

Getting the pose right as The Human Comic Book!

Signing books and postcards with Daniel and Nick.

Thanks to Elaine for arranging the event (and taking the photos!) and to everyone at Simon Balle School for making me so welcome, especially Janet and all the staff who came along to the library, and the boys in Year Nine for being such a great audience.


Visit the Books@Hoddesdon website or find them on Facebook.

Langley Grammar School – Thank You!

In March I visited Langley Grammar School in Slough to talk to students from Year Seven, Eight and Nine about 15 Days Without a Head and my journey to becoming an author. 

A few weeks later an enormous envelope of cards, drawings, poems and cartoons arrived in the post. To say it made my day would be an understatement! I was so bowled over and impressed by the creativity on display I had to share it.

Huge thanks to all the staff at students at the school for making me so welcome on the day, and for taking the time to send me these …

Nower Hill and Northwood School Tour with The New Leaf Bookshop, Pinner.

 I had a great time visiting two secondary schools in Pinner today, with Martin and Judy from The New Leaf Bookshop. 

Martin, Judy and Emily at the shop

Before setting off for our first event, I was invited to add my name to the wall of honour!

As usual, Tim Bowler puts the right words in the right order.

Cathy Cassidy added cake and stars!

Brilliant! If only I'd thought to draw Jay as a dog …

Then it was off to Nower Hill School for two sessions with Year Nine to talk about 15 Days Without a Head and my journey to becoming an author. Big thanks to all the staff and students for making us so welcome and not complaining they lost half of break because of my talk!

Action shot – talking so fast, I'm blurred!

We arrived at Northwood to fantastic welcome – Jaffa Cakes and a series of posters advertising the event. Thanks again to all the staff and students at the school, especially Louise and the artists who made the posters.

I particularly like this one as it shows me with hair!

In action – acting out the comic book I drew when I was 11.

If you're ever in Pinner, make sure you visit.

Find the New Leaf Bookshop on Facebook

or visit their website.