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Just before Christmas I had an extremely lucky break. I was on Twitter when I saw a tweet from a writer called Antonia Honeywell who had just had her first novel (the breathtaking The Ship) published. She had seen yet another ‘hottest writers under 30’ article and wanted to know whether there were any otherContinue reading “In My Prime”

A few weeks ago I went back to my Primary School to do a story building workshop with the children. It was a wonderful morning, and the children gave me a fabulous story involving a grumpy scientist, a chicken and a group of clever mice. Together we built the story and I loved it soContinue reading “Professor Snarflerock”

Last week I went back to my Primary School to talk to the children about writing. It was lovely to go back, to see the classroom where I was encouraged to write by Mrs Tan, a wonderful teacher who told the eight year old me that I had talent and should write more. She toldContinue reading “School visit!”

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s World Book Day. A day to celebrate the gorgeous thing that is a book. So what is a book? It’s a gateway to another world. It’s an instrument for seeing intimately into the lives of others, sharing their secrets, reading their minds. It’s a meeting ofContinue reading “World Book Day!!!!!”

This week there has been a lot of love for libraries on Twitter and Facebook, fuelled by National Libraries Day and by the threat that public funding cuts pose to libraries across the UK. When I was a child, the library was the place that I loved the most, after home. We couldn’t afford manyContinue reading “The Story Place”

Well Happy New Year (yes, I know I’m late). Well here we are in 2015. This time last year I was nervously waiting for the outcome of the Firefly Press prize. A year later here I am, with a book on the shelf with my name on the spine, a first draft of another readyContinue reading “Say Yes More”

Jostein Gaarder’s wonderful The Christmas Mystery is an advent calendar in book form. The best way to read it is to open one of its 24 short chapters each day, beginning on December 1st and let the adventure unfold gradually, rather than racing through it in one sitting. I can’t find my copy at theContinue reading “Books for Advent 1 – The Christmas Mystery”