October 12th marked Bookshop Day. Here in Dunedin, University Book Shop hosted The Big Teddy Bear Sleepover with The Sleepy Storytellers. Making up The Sleepy Storytellers were me, Emma Wood, Gillian Torckler and Susan Wardell. Children were invited to bring along their teddy bears for a story time and a crafts session where they made a bed for their bear. …
But Then… is out today!
My brand new picturebook, and my first book to be published in Aotearoa New Zealand, is out today! But Then… The almost true story of an overdue book is the far-fetched, tall tale of why a library book is 293 days overdue! The story follows a child and their grandfather who are returning a book to the library. When the …
Book Week at Trinity College
It’s Book Week at Trinity College and I was invited to meet with years 7, 8 and 9 to talk all things books. I spoke with the pupils about discovering books as a child, my connection to Matilda and why ALL our stories are important. It was fantastic to get so many questions about writing, being an author and how …
Signing off for 2023
Phew! That was a BIG year! You’ve all made so many of my dreams come true, starting with a phenomenal World Book Day release for Dave Pigeon. I was chuffed to bits to see so many schools join in with mine and Sheena’s big virtual event. HUGE thank you to everyone who shared their work with us. Dave was back …
My top tips for chairing a festival event
This weekend was the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival. The theme of the festival was ‘a moment that marks the beginning of a journey, to the place where the river meets the sea – Te Pūao’ and the incredible star-studded line up of writers, illustrators and creatives included Witi Ihimaera, Fiona Farrell, Jacinta Ruru, Stacey Morrison, Ruth Paul, Susan Wardell, Michaela Keeble and Tokerau …
Library Day at Otago Girls High School
I was invited to be part of Otago Girls High School’s Library Day this year. The event has been running for an incredible 86 years so I was really chuffed to be part of the celebrations. This year the theme was ‘Childhood Nostalgia’ and everyone got dressed up for the occasion. There was a Miss Piggy, a couple of Grus, …
Ask me anything at Columba College
Today, I joined Years 5 to 8 at Columba College as part of their Book Week. I told them all about the books I read as a child and what reading meant to me and ultimately how my experiences with books impacted my writing journey. The pupils asked me heaps of questions about writing, publishing and how to stay motivated …
Writing Young Fiction with SCBWI NZ
Thank you so much to Team SCBWI NZ for inviting me to talk about creating young fiction. I loved hearing everyone’s under-pressure pitches and hope you are all off to work on your young fiction series right away. I thought I would just highlight my key points about young fiction here: •Remember to invest in your characters and create characters …
Ignition Children’s Literature Festival: Day 2
We had Grizzly Bear roars and Lioness hugs aplenty today at my Dunedin City Library ‘Meet the Author’ event. We designed a jazzy pair of togs together that would make sure our Grizzly Bear was the trendiest in the woods. The shorts now take pride of place on my office wall. Thank you so much to everyone who came along …
Ignition Children’s Literature Festival: Day 1
Thank you to everyone who came along to join Barbara Else, Kitty Brown and I for our ‘Pathways to Publication’ panel today. It was a hugely enlightening conversation about our publication journeys which were very different but started in the same vein of trying to fill a gap in the market. Kitty’s journey began with creating Te Reo Māori board …