I love doing festival and library events. I think it’s the whole family thing: parents and kids having fun together, enjoying books and celebrating reading. And it works particularly for me because my books appeal to both children and big grown ups (so I’m told!). I also like to think that I offer something a little bit different: for a start my events are based on non-fiction, which still doesn’t get much of a look-in even at some of the bigger book festivals. Secondly, I include humour and lots of interaction, with a particular eye on reluctant readers.
So, if you’re a festival or library event organiser, read on! I can help attract audiences who have perhaps never been to a festival or library event before and engage younger/older brothers and sisters too! Recent festival appearances have included Hay, Edinburgh, Bath and Hertford, and I’ve had a fab time doing library events all over the UK.
With this in mind I am offering a couple of new one-hour events which will work well with mixed-age audiences (and particularly cut the mustard with 7-11s). The first I’m calling Word Romp and is based on lots of fun wordplay, mainly from my Blue Peter Book Award 2016 shortlisted title The Silly Book of Weird and Wacky Words. This will be very interactive, with kids on stage and loads of great games and challenges including THE WORD CHALLENGE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN COMPLETED. I’m offering a big prize for whoever can be the first youngster to do that.
My second event is Christmas Cackles, based on my new title for autumn 2016 from Bloomsbury, The Anti-Boredom Christmas Book. This has loads of great ideas for festive-themed activities, jokes, fun facts, challenges and quizzes. Again, it’s perfect for a mixed-age family audience. This event will also works well for bookshops who run regular events with school or family audiences.
Bookings for these events are now open!
If you’d like to know more then please contact me.