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/
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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!
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January 2025
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