Back in 2014, Titus Salt School in Shipley, Yorkshire, asked me to be their Patron of Reading for 2014-15. The school, which has a fantastic library run by the equally fantastic Chrissie Hunter, puts a strong emphasis on reading and literacy across all departments, and I knew as soon as I set foot through the door that I was going to enjoy working with them very much indeed.
It was a busy year. I undertook several visits, including this one where I helped some students film podcasts about current GCSE questions. In February I helped launch a literacy project where a group of students wrote stories based on the school's core values (more on that in a moment!) and on World Book Day I spent two days at the school and became Empress Pass of Poetopia (which meant I got to order lots of Year 7s around - sometimes I really love my job!). You can read more about those two visits here.
Then, in May, I accompanied the Literacy project group – 21 Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students along with teachers Mr Breen, Mrs Wilson, Miss Milnes – to Malham for a weekend, where the students would be making films out of the stories created during my visit in February.
On the Saturday, everyone was up early. My group went to Janet’s Foss first, to film some scenes for a story about two sisters who become separated and must find each other again, battling against insurmountable odds. The path to the waterfall can get quite busy with walkers, but we got there early and had the place almost to ourselves. Once the group had all the scenes they needed in the bag, we returned to the Bunk Barn to get ready for the next filming session up at Malham Cove, which required some preparation - face paints, a wizard's cape and a blue wig! It was a brilliant weekend and the students created some outstanding work. Again, a real I-love-my-job moment!
My final visit for the school year gave me another chance to dress up, this time as the Storyteller from Grimmtasia, helping Year 7 create fairy tales worlds and characters.
I also put together a half-termly newsletter called PassWords where I talked about books and writing, shared news on literacy and reading-related projects the school was running, and featured other authors and students' own writing.
And now, I get to do it all again, as Titus Salt have asked me to be their Patron of Reading for a second year. Hooray! I'm really looking forward to it, and can't wait to find out what projects I'll be taking part in this time. Here's to the brilliant staff and students at Titus Salt, and another great year of reading!
Showing posts with label Patron of Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patron of Reading. Show all posts
Friday, 18 September 2015
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Award! #UKYAExtravaganza! Patron of Reading Stuff! Etc!
Hello!
Oh dear, I'm not doing too well with this blog, am I? *Blows away cobwebs* *flicks feather duster around* Lucky it's not a Tamagotchi or it'd look a bit like this…
Anyway. Happy 2015 plus three months, everyone! What have you been up to? What have I been up to? Lots of things. So much has happened, in fact, that I think I'm going need to use subheadings. Here goes…
An Award for ACID
Very excitingly, the audiobook of ACID has been named as one of YALSA's (the Young Adult Library Services of America) 2015 Top Ten Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults. This is brilliant news, and testament to the amazing team who brought the book to life. In the words of YALSA: "Unique ACID reports and recordings read by [Nicholas Guy] Smith and [Fiona] Hardingham's excellent pace combine with her authentic teen voice to highlight this exciting story." Hooray!
The UKYA Extravaganza
Back in October, I did a panel and Q&A session with Kerry Drewery and Zoe Marriot at Waterstones Lincoln. Afterwards, Kerry and I said to each other, 'Wouldn't it be great to do this again? Maybe we could get a few more authors – maybe 5 or 6 – and a few more people to come along…'
Little did we know what we were embarking upon. 4 months later, at Birmingham High Street Waterstones, our initial idea had turned into 33 authors and over 100 book bloggers and readers gathering for the UKYA Extravaganza, tickets for which had sold out within 24 hours. To say Kerry and I were stunned is probably an understatement…
The day was incredible and the amount of Twitter-love afterwards almost broke the internet (check out the #UKYAExtravaganza hashtag to see for yourself!).
I think this is my favourite tweet, as it completely sums up what Kerry and I were trying to achieve with the day:
But if you missed it this time round, never fear – we're doing it again! There's going to be another UKYAX in October in Nottingham, date and venue TBC. We're also launching a website and Facebook page very soon, so look out for those, and if you're on Twitter you can follow @UKYAX for the latest updates.
And of course, a huge thank you to all the Waterstones staff for letting us gatecrash, and to everyone who took part and came along to support the event!
Patron of Reading Visits
I've done quite a few school visits this year already, including two to my Patron of Reading school, Titus Salt in Yorkshire. The first, at the beginning of February, was to help launch an exciting literacy project. I worked with students from various years to help them write stories based on the school's core values, Together, Resilient, Ambitious and Caring, using different creative writing exercises as inspiration. The stories will be turned into short animated films during a residential weekend this summer, which I'll be accompanying the students and staff on. I can't wait!
My second visit was last week, over two days to help celebrate World Book Day. On Thursday I raced around the school, gatecrashing lessons to give short readings from THE FEARLESS and play Bananagrams (which I was rubbish at - I blame the fact that I kept getting loads of 'N's and 'X's, and no vowels!).
Then, on Friday, I was crowned Empress Pass of Poetopia. Year 7 had been separated into factions and sent to the Arena (the school hall) where they had to compete to win my favour in order to be given resources which would help them survive. I love being a writer anyway, but when I get to dress up in a cloak and tiara and order people about? Well, I REALLY love it. It was so much fun!
Oh dear, I'm not doing too well with this blog, am I? *Blows away cobwebs* *flicks feather duster around* Lucky it's not a Tamagotchi or it'd look a bit like this…
An Award for ACID
Very excitingly, the audiobook of ACID has been named as one of YALSA's (the Young Adult Library Services of America) 2015 Top Ten Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults. This is brilliant news, and testament to the amazing team who brought the book to life. In the words of YALSA: "Unique ACID reports and recordings read by [Nicholas Guy] Smith and [Fiona] Hardingham's excellent pace combine with her authentic teen voice to highlight this exciting story." Hooray!
The UKYA Extravaganza
Back in October, I did a panel and Q&A session with Kerry Drewery and Zoe Marriot at Waterstones Lincoln. Afterwards, Kerry and I said to each other, 'Wouldn't it be great to do this again? Maybe we could get a few more authors – maybe 5 or 6 – and a few more people to come along…'
Little did we know what we were embarking upon. 4 months later, at Birmingham High Street Waterstones, our initial idea had turned into 33 authors and over 100 book bloggers and readers gathering for the UKYA Extravaganza, tickets for which had sold out within 24 hours. To say Kerry and I were stunned is probably an understatement…
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| Books! |
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| Cakes! |
 |
| Authors! |
The day was incredible and the amount of Twitter-love afterwards almost broke the internet (check out the #UKYAExtravaganza hashtag to see for yourself!).
I think this is my favourite tweet, as it completely sums up what Kerry and I were trying to achieve with the day:
But if you missed it this time round, never fear – we're doing it again! There's going to be another UKYAX in October in Nottingham, date and venue TBC. We're also launching a website and Facebook page very soon, so look out for those, and if you're on Twitter you can follow @UKYAX for the latest updates.
And of course, a huge thank you to all the Waterstones staff for letting us gatecrash, and to everyone who took part and came along to support the event!
Patron of Reading Visits
I've done quite a few school visits this year already, including two to my Patron of Reading school, Titus Salt in Yorkshire. The first, at the beginning of February, was to help launch an exciting literacy project. I worked with students from various years to help them write stories based on the school's core values, Together, Resilient, Ambitious and Caring, using different creative writing exercises as inspiration. The stories will be turned into short animated films during a residential weekend this summer, which I'll be accompanying the students and staff on. I can't wait!
My second visit was last week, over two days to help celebrate World Book Day. On Thursday I raced around the school, gatecrashing lessons to give short readings from THE FEARLESS and play Bananagrams (which I was rubbish at - I blame the fact that I kept getting loads of 'N's and 'X's, and no vowels!).
Then, on Friday, I was crowned Empress Pass of Poetopia. Year 7 had been separated into factions and sent to the Arena (the school hall) where they had to compete to win my favour in order to be given resources which would help them survive. I love being a writer anyway, but when I get to dress up in a cloak and tiara and order people about? Well, I REALLY love it. It was so much fun!
The Fearless
Finally, a quick reminder for my US readers – THE FEARLESS is being published by Delacorte on 14th April! The School Library Journal called it "a fun and fast read that will appeal to lovers of zombie invasions as well as books that feature strong females in dystopian settings." If that sounds like your sort of book, you can preorder it here.
Annnnd I think that's it! Over and out…
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
My Second Patron of Reading Visit
Last Friday saw me catching stumbling onto a train at the unearthly hour of 7am, clutching a coffee in one hand and a bag full of notebooks, postcards and various other bits and bobs in the other. I was heading up to Shipley in West Yorkshire to visit Titus Salt School. I'm lucky enough to be Titus Salt's current Patron of Reading and this was my second official visit to the school in that capacity.
By the time I arrived at 9am, I was much more awake, thank goodness, and ready for a busy day talking to Titus Salt's Year 7s about how I became a writer and got published. The students were fantastic, and asked some great questions. The students were also given copies of the latest edition of PassWords, my Patron of Reading newsletter, which I write every half term.
In this half term's edition there was a special mention for the winners of Titus Salt's Summer Reading Challenge, and some fantastic writing by the students themselves, including a poem and the first instalment of a horror story called The Bloody Boathouse.
After a busy lunch break signing postcards and talking to a group of budding writers, I helped some Year 11s film a series of podcasts about how to answer the English GCSE exam questions. The exam has changed a lot since I sat my GCSEs, and it was really interesting to find out what students need to do these days to achieve a high mark.
I also chose a book Christmas tree, one of several made by library staff to raise money for charities chosen by Titus Salt's Post-16 students. In exchange for a small donation, I took home this beautiful tree made from pages of a graphic novel. It now has pride of place on my desk.
By the time I arrived at 9am, I was much more awake, thank goodness, and ready for a busy day talking to Titus Salt's Year 7s about how I became a writer and got published. The students were fantastic, and asked some great questions. The students were also given copies of the latest edition of PassWords, my Patron of Reading newsletter, which I write every half term.
In this half term's edition there was a special mention for the winners of Titus Salt's Summer Reading Challenge, and some fantastic writing by the students themselves, including a poem and the first instalment of a horror story called The Bloody Boathouse.
After a busy lunch break signing postcards and talking to a group of budding writers, I helped some Year 11s film a series of podcasts about how to answer the English GCSE exam questions. The exam has changed a lot since I sat my GCSEs, and it was really interesting to find out what students need to do these days to achieve a high mark.
I also chose a book Christmas tree, one of several made by library staff to raise money for charities chosen by Titus Salt's Post-16 students. In exchange for a small donation, I took home this beautiful tree made from pages of a graphic novel. It now has pride of place on my desk.
It was a wonderful day – I'm really proud to be involved with a school which is so passionate about books, reading and words. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what the next few months will bring!
If you're a school who would like to link up with an author and make them your Patron of Reading, you can find out who's available on the Patron of Reading Website here.
Friday, 2 May 2014
Patron of Reading!
I have some very exciting news – I've been asked to become the Patron of Reading for 2014 -15 at Titus Salt School in Yorkshire! I've already visited the school to run a creative writing workshop, and I'm thrilled that I'm going to be working with them more closely.
The Patron of Reading scheme encourages schools to form a partnership with a designated children's or YA author, with the aim of promoting and nurturing a love of reading. As part of my role at Titus Salt, I will be doing author visits, writing a newsletter and much more – I will post more details here when I have them.
Thanks for having me, Titus Salt, and here's to a great year, I hope!
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Good Causes, Exciting Schemes, Book Birthdays And More!
G-Dog was e x h a u s t e d after his stint at blogging last week, so he's let me have the blog back for a while. I thought I'd use this opportunity to tell you about some stuff I and other people have been doing!
ACID is out in 5 weeks and 2 days (not that I'm counting or anything. Ahem)!! And it's featured on DARK DAYS author Kate Ormand's blog today, as part of her 'Sneak Peek' feature. You can find out more here!
RUBY AND GRUB and BUTTERCUP MAGIC author Abi Burlingham would like to know if any picture book or middle grade authors can help Ystruth Primary School in Blaina, South Wales, build a library by donating one of their books. The school is in a very deprived area, where many children have never experienced a library visit, so the school want to set one up to encourage the pupils to read and fall in love with books. However, they have very few resources, and will struggle to do so on their own. Please go and read Abi's post about the project, and if you can help, get in touch with her!
Have you heard about the Patron of Reading scheme? This is another project that's been set up at a school in Wales, Esgob Morgan, by the headteacher Tim Redgrave and author Helena Pielichaty. Authors anywhere in the UK can sign up to be a Patron and have their details added to the school's website, and then schools can browse the list and get in touch with them to see if they'd be a good match. I signed up a while ago and am now talking to a school about becoming their Patron – which is very exciting! For more details about this amazing scheme, see the school's website. You can also tweet Tim at @timredgrave.
There's been LOTS of book birthdays among the Lucky 13s this month. You can now grab yourself Mindee Arnett's THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR, Tamera Will Wissinger's GONE FISHING, Sarah Skilton's BRUISED, Steven dos Santos's THE CULLING, Debra Driza's MILA 2.0 and Nicole McInne's BRIANNA ON THE BRINK. And Liz Coley's PRETTY GIRL-13 releases in the US today as well! Woo-hoo!
Please also check out Bridget Zinn's POISON, which released on the 12th March. Tragically, Bridget never got to see her book in print, as she died from cancer in 2011. I didn't know her personally, but I used to follow her blog, and like many other people, was shocked and saddened when she lost her fight against her illness. POISON looks like an amazing book, and deserves to do incredibly well!
Finally, I'm involved in a top secret project, along with lots of other AMAZING authors, which I'm hoping I'll be able to tell you about soon! But not yet. Shh.
See you next week (if G-Dog doesn't get here first!)!
ACID is out in 5 weeks and 2 days (not that I'm counting or anything. Ahem)!! And it's featured on DARK DAYS author Kate Ormand's blog today, as part of her 'Sneak Peek' feature. You can find out more here!
RUBY AND GRUB and BUTTERCUP MAGIC author Abi Burlingham would like to know if any picture book or middle grade authors can help Ystruth Primary School in Blaina, South Wales, build a library by donating one of their books. The school is in a very deprived area, where many children have never experienced a library visit, so the school want to set one up to encourage the pupils to read and fall in love with books. However, they have very few resources, and will struggle to do so on their own. Please go and read Abi's post about the project, and if you can help, get in touch with her!
Have you heard about the Patron of Reading scheme? This is another project that's been set up at a school in Wales, Esgob Morgan, by the headteacher Tim Redgrave and author Helena Pielichaty. Authors anywhere in the UK can sign up to be a Patron and have their details added to the school's website, and then schools can browse the list and get in touch with them to see if they'd be a good match. I signed up a while ago and am now talking to a school about becoming their Patron – which is very exciting! For more details about this amazing scheme, see the school's website. You can also tweet Tim at @timredgrave.
There's been LOTS of book birthdays among the Lucky 13s this month. You can now grab yourself Mindee Arnett's THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR, Tamera Will Wissinger's GONE FISHING, Sarah Skilton's BRUISED, Steven dos Santos's THE CULLING, Debra Driza's MILA 2.0 and Nicole McInne's BRIANNA ON THE BRINK. And Liz Coley's PRETTY GIRL-13 releases in the US today as well! Woo-hoo!
Please also check out Bridget Zinn's POISON, which released on the 12th March. Tragically, Bridget never got to see her book in print, as she died from cancer in 2011. I didn't know her personally, but I used to follow her blog, and like many other people, was shocked and saddened when she lost her fight against her illness. POISON looks like an amazing book, and deserves to do incredibly well!
Finally, I'm involved in a top secret project, along with lots of other AMAZING authors, which I'm hoping I'll be able to tell you about soon! But not yet. Shh.
See you next week (if G-Dog doesn't get here first!)!
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