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 …
All About Diwali with Scholastic Schools Live
Thank you so much to everyone who joined in the All About Diwali event with Scholastic Schools Live. Please do get in touch and share your Diwali makes and bakes with me. I’d love to see how you celebrated. Happy Diwali!
International Literacy Day 2022
The UNESCO International Literacy Day highlights the importance of literacy as a human right so it was wonderful to spend today with The Rotary Club of Dunedin talking about the books I read as a child and the journey I have taken since as a writer.
Day of Goodness with SLANZA and National Library
Today, I got to spend my morning with the lovely school librarians in Dunedin as part of their SLANZA and National Library Day of Goodness. My entire love of books and writing started with libraries and kind librarians who put aside Sweet Valley High books knowing I would want to read them first, so it was quite a feat not …
Second place for Torn Apart!
I’m so thrilled that Torn Apart got the Highly Commended nod of honour at the Historical Association Young Quills Awards 2022. The shortlist was incredible, packed full of authors who are my writing heroes, so it’s wonderful to see this book that is so important to me get acknowledged in this way. Thank you to the judges for taking the …
A double shortlisting!
I am thrilled to bits to see that Torn Apart has been shortlisted for the incredible Historical Association’s Young Quills Award! This means the world to me as the partition of India rarely features in young historical fiction so I’m so thankful to see Torn Apart feature on this incredible platform. You can have a look at the full shortlist …
World Book Day with DRAKE the Bookshop
Thank you to DRAKE the Bookshop for inviting me to be part of their World Book Day extravaganza. I kicked off the day of author events, with a reading of My Mum is a Lioness. This was the first time I was reading the book at an event, made all the more special by the fact that it’s only a couple of days …
Happy World Book Day!
Happy World Book Day to you all! However you are spending the day, whether it is in costume, reading books, writing stories or listening to a tale – I hope you have the most brilliant day. Thank you to everyone who has shared their brilliant costumes with me. It’s incredibly special to seeing your books being enjoyed so please do …
See you in 2022!
It’s been a bumper crop this year! I’m so thankful to be supported by the best publishing teams but also by the BEST readers. That’s you! A huge THANK YOU to all the brilliant booksellers, bloggers, librarians, school staff, fellow authors and illustrators and AWESOME readers, like you, who continue to support my books – big Christmas hugs to you …