A little while ago, my son Herbie helped come up with and develop the idea for a book. Well, we’re delighted to say that a copy of the finished product has just dropped through the letterbox. It is part of the Treetops Chucklers series for OUP, series edited by Jeremy Strong. How to Get to […]

To mark the publication of a brand new book of original jokes (co-written by me and Rachel Delahaye), I’ve written a new event that promises to put its funny where its mouth is. The Daily Joker (published September, Piccadilly Press, £4.99) has a rib-tickling joke for every day of the year, along with weekly joke challenges guaranteed to turn […]

Award winning children’s author/performer Gareth P Jones (Ninja Meerkats, Steampunk Pirates & Death or Ice Cream?) is teaming up with fabulous illustrators (including Garry Parsons, Steve May and Gemma Hastilow) in this brand new, original and unpredictable festival show. Gareth and his illustrator are trying to write a story, but not just any story. They are trying to write the […]

Thank you to everyone who dressed up as characters from my books on World Book Day. Sincerest apologies to the teacher who had to spend the day with the Grim Reaper in the class.  Tweet

These days, March is very much harvest time for school visiting authors. The amount of work I get varies year to year, but this year is looking reassuringly busy. I hardly left the house in January until a week of school visits to British schools in Spain. Then February things started to get busier. By the end of March I’ll have […]

Last week I had a Booktrust Letterbox event, a one-off session specially for children in care. This is my second one of these events in as many months. I enjoyed both very much and really hope it won’t be my last. One aspect that occurred to me on both occasions was whether I should change […]

This was a lovely thing to be asked to do. The idea was to ask people who work with children three words of advice for the next generation. Some chose three unconnected words, others went for a three word sentence. I hummed and harred about mine. At first, I wanted to say something about playing. […]

It is widely believed that there are now more literary festivals in the country than can be counted. They vary in size, scale, length & prestige but one of my absolute favourites in the Northern Children Book Festival. There is no yurt or free newspapers from sponsors. You’ll rarely bump into the latest celebrity author […]

Today, I stood in front of years 5 & 6 with a blank piece of paper & asked them to fill it with a story. Their story went like this: The Planet Money was flat like a coin. On the top side lived a race known as The Known. They enjoyed all the benefits on […]

5, days, 3 cities, 10 schools, 2 booksellers, 1 ukulele, 4 or 5 pianos, 1 trumpet, 1700 children, 1 author and 3 books, almost 800 books sold. A MASSIVE thank you to all who made my #PetDefendersTour such a blast! I feel so grateful to be able to have weeks like this in my life. Thank […]