I was invited to be part of Otago Girls High School’s Library Day this year. The event has been running for an incredible 86 years so I was really chuffed to be part of the celebrations. This year the theme was ‘Childhood Nostalgia’ and everyone got dressed up for the occasion. There was a Miss Piggy, a couple of Grus, …
Ask me anything at Columba College
Today, I joined Years 5 to 8 at Columba College as part of their Book Week. I told them all about the books I read as a child and what reading meant to me and ultimately how my experiences with books impacted my writing journey. The pupils asked me heaps of questions about writing, publishing and how to stay motivated …
Writing Young Fiction with SCBWI NZ
Thank you so much to Team SCBWI NZ for inviting me to talk about creating young fiction. I loved hearing everyone’s under-pressure pitches and hope you are all off to work on your young fiction series right away. I thought I would just highlight my key points about young fiction here: •Remember to invest in your characters and create characters …
Ignition Children’s Literature Festival: Day 2
We had Grizzly Bear roars and Lioness hugs aplenty today at my Dunedin City Library ‘Meet the Author’ event. We designed a jazzy pair of togs together that would make sure our Grizzly Bear was the trendiest in the woods. The shorts now take pride of place on my office wall. Thank you so much to everyone who came along …
Ignition Children’s Literature Festival: Day 1
Thank you to everyone who came along to join Barbara Else, Kitty Brown and I for our ‘Pathways to Publication’ panel today. It was a hugely enlightening conversation about our publication journeys which were very different but started in the same vein of trying to fill a gap in the market. Kitty’s journey began with creating Te Reo Māori board …
Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival
Today, I read My Dad is a Grizzly Bear at the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival as part of the Story Time Double Decker Bus. Kathryn van Beek and I took turns sharing our picture books with two bus loads of children, parents and grandparents. The children helped me read My Dad is a Grizzly Bear complete with actions and …
World Book Day with Churchwood Primary
Yesterday, I spent World Book Day with the keyworker pupils of Churchwood Primary. I beamed in from New Zealand to the school in East Sussex to first meet with the Infants for a My Dad is a Grizzly Bear reading. This was the very first time I was reading the book to anyone so it was very exciting. We then …
Across the Ditch: Maxine Beneba Clark – When We Say Black Lives Matter
I’m so chuffed to have been asked to interview Maxine Beneba Clark about her new book for The Sapling. You can have a read of the full article here and find out all about Maxine Beneba Clark’s stunning picture book ‘When We Say Black Lives Matter’.
Dave Pigeon at East Taieri School
Today I visited East Taieri School with ReadNZ’s Writers in Schools programme. It was my first school visit since lockdown and I was worried I might be a bit rusty but the staff and pupils at East Taieri were so kind and welcoming that I soon got back in the swing of things. We created brand new stories for Mean …