Category: Uncategorized

  • My Mum the Handyman

    Delighted to have created a wee book with Local Heroes to promote Women in the trades. Astonishingly, most kids don’t think women can be plumbers or engineers, so I hope this encourages them to think again. To find out more Go to https://www.localheroes.com/blog/my-mum-the-handyman-childrens-book-launch Or download your FREE copy here! Girls can do anything…

  • Well Hello there.

    I haven’t blogged in ages, but next week I’ll add some more books to my site and also tell you about the mural I’ve painted for Noah’s ark children’s Hospice https://www.noahsarkhospice.org.uk, the book I’ve done with Local Heroes, https://bit.ly/2WNDXE0and the amazing work done by refugees and migrants at the Islington Centre, where I work with…

  • JUST IMAGINE and HALLOWEEN

    Charming young Earthlings enjoying ‘Letters from an Alien Schoolboy’ and ‘Cosmic Custard’ I really enjoyed my visit to the warm and welcoming Just Imagine Story Centre in Chelmsford . It’s a beautiful shop, brimming with wonderful books and exquisite dressing up clothes, too. Downstairs is a spooky dungeon, so it’s a terrific place to drop by,…

  • ROALD DAHL FUNNY PRIZE SHOCK

    Earthlings, listen here. Perhaps you are not such lousy no-good hopeless duffers as I thought. You seem to have chosen ‘LETTERS FROM AN ALIEN SCHOOLBOY’ to be shortlisted for your so called Roald Dahl ‘Funny’ prize. I don’t really get this Earthling thing about ‘jokes’, especially as you always seem to be laughing at me, but I…

  • How to Draw Aliens

    HOW TO DRAW ALIENS . If you fancy creating your very own alien this Saturday Sept 10th, I’ll be doing a workshop at the Haringey Children’s Literature Festival 1.00-1.40in the Workshop space at Marcus Garvey Library. There’ll be the Word Play Area, the Super Signings Tent, the Story Telling Tent; a Workshop Space, competitions, and…

  • Ten year olds Can spot a phoney

    It’s the end of the world for the News of The World. All writers, not only journalists, might be considering the consequences. Do we hope to use language to illuminate? I first read the News of The World when I was nine years old and stopped reading it a year later. That’s because it boasted…

  • Do we need Princesses?

    Goodness, it appears the Royal Family is very expensive. It costs 112 times more than the Irish president and the equivalent of thousands of nurses, police officers and teachers according to a new report. www.republic.org.uk/royalfinances But if we banned the Monarchy what would that mean for children’s books? Where would we be without Lauren Child’s ‘The…

  • Welcome to my blog (will I keep it up?)

    Hello, welcome to my occasional blog about writing, drawing and anything that takes my fancy. Here’s a good writer’s tip: ‘Write a little every day without and hope and without despair’ It’s from Danish author Karen von Blixen-Finecke (1885 – 1962); born Karen Christence Dinesen, best known under her pen name Isak Dinesen. News this…