As another Summer Festival draws to a close I’d like to thank everyone who joined my Pet Defenders and me at various festivals around the country. This year, these involved Wychwood, Barnes, Brentwood, Castleford, Discover Story Centre, Camp Bestival, Latitude and Greenman. Each festival featured a different show, ranging from the big Latitude production to […]

Dear Tilly, Firstly, sorry you couldn’t make it to the awards day. I would really have loved to meet you. Thank you for saying such a nice thing about my book and for your excellent drawing. I’m afraid I didn’t read the letter until after your friend had given me the picture. I realise now […]

This week I had a wonderful visit to Gordon School in Strood as part of Pop Up Festival 2017. I visited three Year 5 classes who had been reading my book The Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates: The Leaky Battery Sets Sail. The appropriately name Stevenson class had produced their own Steampunk Pirates, creating a […]

A post-grad friend of mine who wants to be a writer just wrote asking for advice about whether to do a creative writing course and generally what she should do next. My reply is so long-winded that I have decided to publish it as a blog (to justify the time spent writing it.) Here is […]

I have just returned from Yorkshire where I was holding an Alien Making Workshop as part of the Castleford Literary Festival (run by the Wakefield Lit Fest in association with the Castleford Heritage Trust). I partly agreed to do it because my friend, Joyce Branagh was one of the organisers. Every year, Joyce (who is […]

The Bookseller just featured my #GetPetsReading campaign in their Pictures of the Week feature. I believe this is the first mention I have had in The Bookseller since my first book, “The Dragon Detective Agency: Case of the Missing Cats” received a lovely little review. I’m not sure I even got a mention when I […]

It has recently come to light that some Children’s authors don’t know if they are celebrities or not. Hopefully, this short quiz will clear that up. Whose idea was it to write a children’s book? a) Mine of course b) I’ve been working on it for years. c) My agent suggested it as a way to […]

Being invited to visit international schools feels like such an honour. It’s not just the opportunity to visit parts of the world I’ve never visited before. It is the chance to meet some truly fascinating children with a uniquely pan-national view of the world. I have just finished five gloriously days visiting the International School […]

This year I’m marking my tenth year as a published author. In January 2007 my first book came out, The Dragon Detective Agency: Case of the Missing Cats (Bloomsbury). It was the first in a series of four. It had a red scaly cover with a large police badge, and a picture of a dragon […]

One of the things I love about having a new book come out is the chance to get out and meet readers. School visits are one of the best parts of the job. This November saw the publication of my latest book, The Thornthwaite Betrayal, which meant I was back on the road to spread […]