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.
Even though I have moved away from my native North East and into London, it was wonderful to hear that me and book were still being talked about up there!
Radio Tees has a weekly Book Talk slot hosted by Bob Fischer and author (and school librarian) Rachel Coverdale. I first met Rachel on a school visit and she is a real champion of books and reading. Rachel has such enthusiasm for getting the right book into the right young hands. So it was especially wonderful to hear her talk about my book in such a lovely way. It was great to share some of the limelight with one of my favourite authors, and North East favourite, Dan Smith. Dan writes fantastic adventure stories full of action and suspense, like ‘Boy X’ which they talked about. Luckily, Rachel said great things about him too!
Although I’m not on the radio, I can still say that I’ve read Rachel’s book, ‘The Boy Who Couldn’t’ and would highly recommend it. It’s a wonderful story of friendship in unexpected places and is a cracking read.
Thanks to Rachel for the photo and for being so kind to me! Please check out Rachel’s website and her books here.
I’m from Tyneside, but have recently moved into the big capital of London (it’s still a little scary, but I’m starting to get used to it!). We were incredibly sad to leave our home but have been made to feel welcome down south. I always try and return whenever I can.
I’ve always had huge support from from my local bookshops and libraries in the North East and was delighted to see on a recent visit that me and my silly book have not been forgotten!
My heart leaped at seeing my familiar purple cover proudly on display in the magnificent Waterstones Newcastle. It was part of a display from a local Headteacher, Mrs Wall. I had the honour of visiting her school early in the year and had a wonderful time. Thank you, Mrs Wall for this huge honour.
It was also a pleasure to visit beautiful Durham’s Waterstones and see my book still on display there too. The good people and booksellers of Durham have been so kind to me for a long, long time. The thrill of seeing my book next to so many fantastic books never gets old. Thank you, Fiona and all the staff there for your loveliness.
It’s especially lovely to be a ‘Shelf Buddy’ with the incredible Emma Carroll too!
I had a great time at the recent Tees Valley Education Book Awards in Middlesbrough. It was an honour to be on a shortlist that included some of my favourite authors, who are also all fab people (yes, authors are people too!).
Catching up with Gabrielle Kent, Em Lynas and Dan Smith is always a pleasure, but it was a shame Sophie Anderson couldn’t make it (as she was adventuring in Canada!). I also got to meet Tom Palmer for the first time, which was brilliant.
It was a pleasure spending the morning in a local school and getting to meet lots of the keen readers involved in the process. An awards scheme like this is all about the readers – we just come along at the end and steal the glory! The teaching staff and all the pupils had put huge amounts of work into it and had obviously had fun. The awards ceremony itself was wonderful entertainment. A choir sang (thankfully not including the authors), awards were given out to the outstanding readers contributions and there was a quiz too! Although my book didn’t win (and you can see by the photo that I wasn’t upset by that!), I think the children chose very well as Tom’s Armistice Runner is an amazing book and a worthy winner.
Hugest of thanks to everyone involved, especially to Dan Mount, who came up with the idea and organised the event. Good luck with next year!
