I wanted to blog a little more about the ilb24 as it was such a memorable highlight in my author career.

It can be tough, at times, to keep believing that what you're doing is worthwhile and that your writing is reaching the right audience so being able to take part in something so incredible really does deserve some celebrating. Indulge me for a moment here please!

The best way to celebrate my experience at ilb24 is to share with you an email I sent to thank the organisers: ​

I just had a lovely reply of thanks and the photos which need to be credited to both ilb24 and the photographer, Arina Pavliuk.

I've just returned from the amazing ilb24 - the twenty-fourth International Literary Festival which is held annually in different locations all over Berlin, Germany. It was INCREDIBLE! 

​More soon!

I've had a rather special weekend because Call Me Lion was shortlisted in the UK Literacy Association 2024 Award for readers aged 7-11 and I was invited down to take part in the ceremony at the University of Sussex.
It was a very powerful and moving experience as all the books selected by the judges were stories to celebrate inclusion, representation and/or highlight particular issues. Added to this, it is the only award judged entirely by teachers.
This is proof that Call Me Lion is being used within classrooms not only to raise compassion and understanding about Selective Mutism, childhood anxiety and levels of illiteracy, but also to encourage reading for pleasure and the joy of books.
​This is what it is all about and for. I'm beyond thrilled to be part of something so incredible and felt very humbled to be included. 

It was a privilege to be among such an amazing collection of books and to be able to mix with hugely talented authors and illustrators. Above are YA writer Nathanael Lessore, shortlisted for his debut, Steady For This, and Peter Lantos, winner of the Non-Fiction category for his personal memoir The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die. I took quite a few photos and there are so many people that I should and could mention in this blog post. If you would like to see a full list of all the shortlisted authors and illustrators for the UKLA 2024 please visit their website: https://ukla.org/news/shortlists-announced-for-the-ukla-book-awards-2024/
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The evening event was wonderful and I got to meet many talented people including Zillah Bethel. This was such a particular thrill for me as I'm a huge fan of all her books.

​I read and enjoyed all the books within the 7-11 category but felt that Liz Flanagan was more than worthy of her win with book 1 of her Wildsmith Series. It was an absolute pleasure to get to know Liz over the weekend and I we shared so many life experiences it was uncanny.

I came away from the wonderful weekend feeling absolutely humbled to be part of something so incredible. It's mind blowing to think of how well Call Me Lion is doing and how many lives it might go on to touch in a positive way. I'm totally proud that I get to call myself the author of the little book with the big heart. 

Long may Lion ROAR!

May has been spent writing every day as part of the amazing Write Magic Bootcamp. A group of fifty writers all commit to setting and reaching a daily word count target for May. This is my second Bootcamp and I find being accountable to other authors and joining in the daily tasks a lot of fun. It is also really productive. So much so as a result I have now completed the first draft of my next book which I am writing with and for my fantastic daughter Sasha.

Writing every day is not my usual format and I did find that the biggest challenge. I'm a 'fits and spurts' writer, which means I write for quite long periods of time or not at all. I am usually, however, doing something or other to do with writing, whether that's school visits, or research, or writing articles, or reading, there are all kinds of other parts to the job than just getting words down.  

The next stage, now that Sasha has read and commented on the draft, is to make all her suggested changes. I'm then, hoping to work with a couple of local school kids to make sure I'm being accurate and then it will go out to close writing friends for feedback. This means the book will probably be on its fourth draft before I feel it is ready to share with my agent. It will happen though! 

I've also been going to a lot of book launches and celebration events recently. It is so wonderful to champion other authors, particularly if they are friends who have shared this up and down journey with me. 

More book news soon, but please do get in touch if you're in or near Reading as I will be there for a few days in July and would love to meet you!

Still buzzing from the amazing festival last weekend. We had an incredible line-up: Serena Patel, teaching us about writing funny, Alex Wharton, the Welsh Children's Laureate sharing the joy and fun of poetry, Holly Bourne giving wisdom around the sensitivity and truth needed when writing for teenagers, Alysoun Owen sharing incredibly insight into Children's Publishing, after 30 years in the business, Hannah Gold talking about her journey, how she writes and the importance of self-belief, Rikin Parekh telling his illustrator story, Sandra A Agard bringing the love of storytelling into the festival, Andrew Wright teaching us how to be #neuroninjas, Charlotte Colwill and Julia Churchill advising on pitching and everything to do with the role of an agent. To finish we had the raffle where three amazing prizes were given out live. It was incredible and I will try to share photos if I can, but in the meantime save the date for next year: 22 & 23 March 2025. All info about W&A and their events, including the festival, can be found on their website: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/

I had an amazing set of visits this year and I want to thank all the staff and children for welcoming me so warmly.

The most memorable moment at Someries was when a quiet girl who was sat next to me during the lunchtime 'meet the author' session in the library (one of the busiest libraries I've seen in school BTW) confided in me that she didn't have any friends. A confident boy nearby overheard and came over, beaming saying he would be her friend and they shook hands on it. 

​On Wednesday I had my second visit and first time to a school in Hatfield. I loved Brookmans Park Primary, especially as they asked me to do a special assembly to KS1. I very rarely work with the younger children so it was a treat to get them to vote on the picture book they wanted me to share. 

On World Book Day itself, which always falls on the first Thursday in March, I was back in Luton (hurrah) to visit Maidenhall Primary School. Totally fell in love with this school which despite its size, had the warmest most relaxing feel to it. There was a big whole school assembly, then year group, select workshops throughout the day. It was really well organised with plenty of time for banana snacking. 

My final visit was to Chestnuts Primary School in Milton Keynes. This was my time visiting a school in MK and I really enjoyed it. The kids were hilarious and the staff were very helpful and accommodating.

There were lots of Call Me Lion workshops and I loved the book signing at the end when I got to meet parents/carers too. I was shown (or nearly shown - didn't really want to see) a fresh tooth fallen out that day and I met a French family, then eldest of whom translated something in Timide comme un lion (the French edition of Call Me Lion) that I'd been puzzling about.

I loved all the drawings of characters and the buzz of the school was very exciting with lots of children keen to learn.

So that's it for another year, but don't forget school visits don't just have to be for world book day. Do get in contact if you'd like me to visit your school. I'd love to come! 

It's off to a flying start. Two schools visited, two more to go. Will update very soon with pictures and stories. In the meantime check out my Insta handle for more @camillacauthor. Thank you!