....and the answer is: Seven Stories, Newcastle

I posted the photo on the left onto Instagram and the photo on the right  on Twitter to see if people could guess where I was visiting on Friday afternoon.  And the answer is of course - Seven Stories in Newcastle. The beautiful building is a renovated mill devoted entirely to  Children's Stories. You've probably guessed from the name that it has seven floors, each wonderful and unique.

Being a Children's Author gave me extra privileges and I was given a guided tour by Cathy and had a coffee and a chat with Sarah one of the CEOs who told me all about the history of Seven Stories. I was interested to know that in addition to being a story centre doing all kinds of wonderful children's literature work, it is also a museum, holding the biggest collection of children's books and manuscript archives.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you will know that the reason I knew about Seven Stories was because I met David Almond when he was a Key Note Speaker at at SCBWI conference one year. David is a HUGE supporter of Seven Stories and his wonderful description of the centre stayed with me. I promised myself if I was ever up in Newcastle I would definitely visit.

It took a while, but as I was at a pitching workshop on Saturday as part of my Mslexia Finalist prize (have I mentioned that I'm a finalist in the Mslexia Children's Novel Award 2019 ;) Maybe once or twice!) I took the opportunity to visit Seven Stories.

Very sadly David's exhibition: Where Your Wings Were had just finished (sniff) but I do remember his author story from the conference. If you're an aspiring Children's Author, yourself and you ever get a chance to read or hear about David's story - please do. It's hugely encouraging because it took him forever to become a big name in Children's Literature. The message I got from him was to keep going and write what I want to write, because I love it.

Anyway, Seven Stories is ace and definitely worth a visit. It's - a really interactive space for children and families, a centre for school visits and a general celebration of words and illustrations.

Plus, as you can see from my photos, there is a David McKee (creator of Mr Ben, Elmer and Not Now Bernard) exhibition on at the moment  and Chris Riddle has drawn all over the walls, for real! If you want to know more take a look at The Seven Stories Website.

Whilst I was in Newcastle I checked out a few more things, not really book related but worth a mention, including the City Farm, the Millennium Bridge, the Sage Centre for Music and the Baltic. The Baltic is an Art Museum which is completely free and has all kinds of interesting exhibitions on. With the risk of sounding more like a travel writer than a Children's Author, Newcastle is definitely worth checking out.