World Chocolate Day
It’s the 7th July, meaning it is World Chocolate Day – but you knew that already.
So, click here to read a serious (ahem!) piece of investigative journalism I wrote for The Guardian a while back.
You’re welcome.
Articles
Illustration Insights
It has been a joy working with Amit and the artwork team on the ‘Shinoy and the Chaos Crew’ books, who have all done an amazing job. Book cover artwork is always such an important and often over-looked part of producing a book. With the Shinoy series we wanted something dynamic and outstanding for every page – and with such a talented team, we certainly got that!
Here are some fascinating insights into the illustration process from Beehive Illustration’s first ‘Under the Cover‘ feature.
Open University – Reading for Pleasure Spotlight
It is an honour to have been chosen to be one of the Open University’s Author Spotlights.
Every month the OU’s Reading for Pleasure website has an author answering a few questions about reading and books. It was a thrill to be asked in amongst some incredible company who had previously been asked. There is also a downloadable version available for classroom displays – which is very handy!
Please check out my Author Spotlight page here.
My Experiences as a Reluctant Reader
My new series of books, ‘Shinoy and the Chaos Crew’, are largely aimed at young people who would not normally choose to pick up and read a book. In an article I wrote for my publisher, I talk about my own experiences of being a ‘reluctant reader’ when I was young. Sometimes people who don’t read much (or at all) are not those who are uninterested in stories, as some people think, but are those that LOVE stories. Reading can be a slow way to access a story, which does put readers like me off. I wrote my new series with this in mind and wanted to bring the story bursting into the readers mind as soon as possible.
You can read the whole article here (don’t worry, it’s very short!).