Author and Illustrator Events

ABOUT A.F’S EVENTS: A.F. Harrold performs poetry in a highly interactive, engaging and imaginative way, essentially comedy-for-kids. He is also more than happy to talk about any of his story books, and to answer questions from kids about any topic, including about being an author.

He can run poetry workshops for groups of kids from KS1 or KS2 – during which (depending on group size and sesson length (ideally one class for an hour or more)) hints and tips about writing poems will be given, ideas for how to get poems started, and some writing will be done (either individually, or maybe a class poem up on the board), with the intention that the things we start and the things we discuss will be picked up and carried on by their teachers after the session.

A.F. simply enjoys talking with the kids and throwing lots of ideas in the air. A full school day visit typically consists of an assembly (whatever length suits) and four hour-ish workshop sessions. A visit just to give a talk would need an hour for the ‘assembly’, plus, preferably, book selling/signing time.

EVENT CONTACT: Contact A.F. using the link below or via the contact page at www.afharroldkids.com, where details of all the books and videos etc. can be seen.

A.F’S BOOKS: Fizzlebert Stump series; Great Zargo series; The Imaginary; The Song from Somewhere Else; The Afterwards; Things You Find in a Poet’s Beard

Photo Credit: Alex Genn-Bash

ABOUT ABIE’S EVENTS: Abie is flexible to a school’s needs but generally offers to do 4 workshops in a school day. On her website you can see full details of the workshops she offers from EYFS to upper KS2 and early KS3. Her main aim is to spark creativity in the students, demystifying the writing process and helping children overcome their fear of the blank page. She encourages children to think of themselves as writers or illustrators, and guides them through how a book is created, including inspiration, character and plot. Her sessions involve world-building and character creation.

EVENT CONTACT: Please email Abie’s PA using the link below to request more information or book an event. More information can also be found at www.abielongstaff.com

ABIE’S BOOKS: The Fairytale Hairdresser series (12 titles), Superhero Hotel, The Magic Potions Shop series (6 titles), The Trapdoor Mysteries (4 titles), How to Catch and Witch and How to Trap a Wolf… and many others.

ABOUT ABI’S EVENTS: From abseiling into jungle caves, chasing the northern lights across the Arctic and living with Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia, author Abi Elphinstone talks about the real-life adventures behind her books, The Dreamsnatcher, The Shadow Keeper, The Night Spinner,  Sky Song and her brand new series, The Unmapped Chronicles. She shows a variety of exciting and unusual objects linked to her characters – think catapults, wolf fangs and eagle huntress hats – and teaches children how easy it is to leap into stories of their own. Abi is dyslexic and had 96 rejections from literary agents before her debut published so she talks about perseverance and the inevitability of failure along the path to becoming a bestselling author.

EVENT CONTACT: Please email Abi at abi@moontrug.com to request more information or book an event (though Abi is currently booked up until January 2020). More information can also be found at www.abielphinstone.com.

ABI’S BOOKS: The Dreamsnatcher, The Shadow Keeper, The Night Spinner, Sky Song, Everdark, Rumblestar (May 2019)

ABOUT ADAM’S EVENTS: Adam is a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Kingston, so he is well versed in talking about the writing process. Adam does a fantastic high energy, interactive event/creative writing workshop.

EVENT CONTACT: For more information or to book an event, please email Adam’s publisher using the link below.

ADAM’S BOOKS: Boy Underwater

ABOUT ADAM’S EVENTS: Ideally, Adam’s author visits start with a half-hour assembly to the whole school. Currently, Adam is leading with stories from George’s Amazing Adventures. Songs and activity sheets can be found at www.adamandcharlotteguillain.co.uk. All the books in these series lend themselves to innovations and writing new adventure stories and work well in KS2 as well. If Adam has more than half an hour he can also include Molly’ Magic Wardrobe – but it depends on the structure of the day.

After assembly, Adam can continue doing workshops in the hall based on his published works, or alternatively model storytelling workshops. Usually these are structured as 2 X 1 hour sessions in the morning and then 1 X 1 hour in the afternoon with then 25 mins left for Foundation or any other group you would like to focus on. These workshops are interactive as I demonstrate how to HEAR MAP STEP SPEAK using the Storytelling Schools method used in many school around the world.

The day outlined above would conclude with an after-school book-signing provided by a local book-seller. If you would like to add a twilight training on how to use storytelling to support writing please contact Adam as these trainers are invoiced for separately by Storytelling Schools.

EVENT CONTACT: Please contact Adam using the below link or through his website www.adamandcharlotteguillain.co.uk.

ADAM’S BOOKS: It’s Too Scary!: A Bloomsbury Young Reader, The World Book Day Monster – Molly’s Magic Wardrobe – George’s Amazing Adventures – Party for Dads – Spaghetti with the Yeti…and many more.

ABOUT ALEX’S EVENTS: Check in at Hotel Flamingo, the funniest and sunniest hotel in town, for musical sing-alongs and live illustration with author-illustrator Alex Milway. Find out hilarious behind-the-scenes secrets and tips and tricks for catering for all the hotel’s very different animal guests. You’ll even learn how to draw the characters along the way!

Alex Milway is a full-time children’s books author-illustrator and screenwriter. His most recent book series Pigsticks and Harold (Walker Books) was optioned by Jam Media, and presented at the 2014 Cartoon Forum. He is the founder of the This Book Is Funny! children’s book scheme working with schools and libraries and has huge experience running children’s workshops around the UK, in China and the US.

EVENT CONTACT: Please email Alex’s publicist using the below link to request more information or book an event. More information can also be found at http://www.alexmilway.com.

ALEX’S BOOKS: Hotel Flamingo, Hotel Flamingo: Heatwave, Hotel Flamingo: Carnival Caper, Pigsticks and Harold Series

ABOUT ALLY’S’ EVENTS:

Assembly Presentation – 1 hour (includes time for Q&A). Take a trip back through time with Ally to discover how she turned from reluctant reader into avid bookworm and then, finally, published author. Ally will also reveal the incredible real-life people and places who have inspired her page-turning historical adventures and the fascinating research she has done to bring the world of her stories to life. Using inspirations from her own books, she will round things off with a fun exercise to show children how they can begin a story or create a character of their own. *There will be plenty of opportunity for the audience to join in throughout.

Class workshops – 45 minutes (maximum number: 30) Ally offers several different, interactive workshops, drawing on themes from her books. These include:

• Paper plate portraits – build a hero or villain in words and pictures using inspiration and ideas from how Ally created the heroes and villains in her own stories

• Operation Buried Treasure – create a story around a precious object

• Give that animal a medal! – look at what makes an heroic animal character both in real life and in stories, including Ally’s, and then have a go at creating one yourself.

EVENT CONTACT: Please contact Ally via the form on her website: allysherrick.com/contact

ALLY’S’ BOOKS: The Buried Crown; Black Powder

ABOUT AMBER’S EVENTS: Amber talks about her personal journey with dyslexia; from being a student in special needs who was unable to read, to discovering stories and becoming an author. Amber loves to share how she developed her passion for reading and how the power of storytelling can help us all. Her lively interactive talk also delves into the writing process, such as creating characters and drawing inspiration from historical figures. A particular focus is given to the women pioneers featured in Lightning Chase Me Home, e.g aviator Amelia Earhart and explorer Lady Hester Stanhope. This inspiring talk is followed by a reading and Q+A.

A writing workshop is also optional. In this workshop students will learn about creating character, location and story setup by inventing their own fictional island or land.

EVENT CONTACT: Please email Amber’s publisher using the link below to request more information or book an event. More information can also be found at www.amberleedodd.com

AMBER’S BOOKS: We are Giants, Lightning Chase Me Home

ABOUT ANDREW’S EVENTS: Andrew offers a highly interactive event where he talks about the different steps of storytelling and how he came up with the idea of Rory Branagan (Detective). Audience participation is highly important to Andrew, Q&A welcome.

EVENT CONTACT: To request more information or to book an event, please email Andrew’s publisher using the link below.

ANDREW’S BOOKS: Rory Branagan Series

ABOUT ANNA’S EVENTS: Anna talks about her magical debut children’s series Pages & Co. and explores how she created a magical new world, and came up with her characters. She talks about working with characters from classic literature, such as Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland and also explains her book writing process and what it is like sharing stories with readers for the first time. Anna provides a very interactive event with Q&A at the end.

EVENT CONTACT: To request more information or to book an event, please email Anna’s publisher using the link below.

ANNA’S BOOKS: Pages & Co (1): Tilly and the Bookwanderer