Library Reading Challenge

I have been honoured to spend this weekend and last at Barnsley Central Library as the guest author. Nearly 200 young people attended 6 separate sessions where I read extracts from my books and talked about my personal experiences as a writer and avid reader of children’s fiction. I then had the great privilege of presenting certificates and medals to the youngsters who had completed the summer reading challenge by finishing 6 books throughout their school holiday. It was lovely to meet and chat with so many people who recognised the importance of reading from an early age and I got to sign lots of personal faery messages in the books purchased. Our local libraries are such wonderful and magical places and we should really treasure them and the work that goes on there. I’m looking forward to keeping up an exciting relationship with Barnsley Central Library now by leading some creative writing workshop sessions in November and beyond. Don’t forget that next week also sees the celebration of National Poetry Day – Thursday 8th October – and as a teacher I’ll be abandoning my usual lessons of the day to spend the whole time reading and writing and dramatising favourite poems with my students. If you’ve written any poetry yourself, especially on faery inspired topics, then please do send them to me. Enjoy the rest of the sparkly weekend xoxo