28 Days Later

Today, I am very proud and honoured to be featured on The Brown Bookshelf's USA Black History Month 28 Days Later campaign:

To read more...

For the list of USA and UK children's books featuring bi-racial characters, see here. 

Losing It

Lady M

I know I have a rather odd expression on my face in these pictures and look as if I may have lost my mind. In fact, whenever I do school events, I tend to 'lose it' in a different way. I feel desperately nervous and worried about author visits in advance. I try to tell myself it's a sort of stage fright - a necessary surge of adrenaline to ensure that I can deliver a good 'performance'.

Handa's Surprise - or... er, Handa's Asleep?

But once I'm actually there - face-to-face with two Year 5 classes crammed into one classroom, all dressed as book characters, or three classes in a lecture theatre, all channelling their inner superhero - I focus on the children, forget about the other adults who are there and lose myself in the moment, along with some of my usual inhibitions and reserve.

I think this is probably a good thing for a children's author to do once in a while.

This time around, I had a cold - so I also lost my voice. It's slowly returning and I've progressed from croaky to husky. Think along the lines of Rod Stewart's Losing You: http://youtu.be/u-kWj_kXzVg or It’s a Heartache: http://youtu.be/Dfw_ID95hPw

Flash Fiction for World Book Day

Fact or Fiction?

It's sometimes hard for anyone to raise the issue of cultural and racial diversity in children's publishing without being accused of being misguided or misinformed, of over-reacting or being too politically correct - or even of having a chip on their shoulder.

This post is therefore something of a cop-out. It is simply a list of things I have read or heard over the past year related to black authors and/or children's and young adult books with black characters. Read more...

Vocare & Pascho

A couple of months into my RLF Fellowship at the London College of Fashion, I mentioned to a friend how much I was enjoying it. It reminded me of how much I love teaching – the chance to make a difference in a pupil or student’s life, to share in their learning and help them reach their full potential. Teaching, I declared, was my vocation. She was surprised. To be honest, I surprised myself. Where does my writing fit into this? Is it just a job; another career I’ve moved into or is it something else entirely? I’ve been thinking about read more