Too far away for an author-visit to your school or library? Not a problem thanks to Skype! I’ve just done a couple of virtual visits to schools, and they are…
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New book, new website … but how much has changed in three years! Not only is the internet now dominated by mobile devices, but images rather than words seem to…
The beautiful gates speak of wisdom, but the pupils at Clapton Girls’ Academy also have a real taste for gore! (Well some of them do, at least.) I recently…
So there I was, driving along happily, when someone carved me up really aggressively. I let out my frustration by instantly swearing, then remembered my teenage son was in the…
A big chunk of my working life is spent writing and researching. But every now and then… MONDAY: Fly out Business Class to Los Angeles (and struggle to work out…
Research on a new project took me to idyllic Oxfordshire to talk to a family whose ancestors came over with William the Conqueror. But as I made my way up…
It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks – all the glammy bits of being a writer. For one week in June, Coventry is buzzing with books and writers at the…
Had an epic time at the Royal Albert Hall last night – saw Gladiator (one of my favourite movies) but with an orchestra performing the score live. I’ve seen…
It’s unlike any school I’ve ever visited! Corby Business Academy is straight out of Minority Report – an amazing building and an amazing library. Amy McKay leads the library team…
I was thrilled to bits that Monkey Wars made the shortlist for the UKLA Book Awards 2014 today. It’s the only UK award chosen by teachers, and sets some very…
I was an hour and half early for a script meeting, so I headed straight for Costa Coffee in Piccadilly, powered up the laptop and cracked on with the next…
With scriptwriting, there’s nothing like hearing a scene read out loud by the cast to know whether or not it’s really working. TV shows should have readthroughs, although budget cuts…
“The candles underneath the umbrellas make them glow like Japanese lanterns…” There’s a great scene in The Player where Richard E Grant plays a movie director pitching his script to…
A 12 year old child forced to be a literary critic! Two teenagers coerced into making a VLOG! The shocking truth behind the world of novel writing was exposed when…
My father was a translator & interpreter, and I have many childhood memories of him sitting at his desk surrounded by German-English dictionaries and huge manuscripts. Which made it doubly…
I’m delighted to report that Monkey Wars has started making the awards lists! The book is now on the longlist for the UKLA 2014 Awards. UKLA does fantastic work advancing…
Feeling very small at the moment. It’s not just that my 14 year old son is now 3/4 inches taller than me (not that I’m measuring), but today I went…
The first thing I heard was the sizzle of hot coals. My mind immediately flashed back to Savonarola burning hated books in Renaissance Florence. Calm down, get a grip. It…
Walker and Just Imagine have put together a really interesting discussion guide about the book – perfect for use in the classroom or reading groups. For the full download, click…
Someone collared me yesterday to ask why I hadn’t updated the blog for a couple of weeks. Apologies, apologies, but I’ve got a good excuse. Two good excuses, actually. The…
The words engraved on the Post Office in Terry’s Pratchett’s Going Postal should really be engraved above the entrance to the Hay Festival, as neither torrential rain nor flooded roads…
A lot of people find it impossible to work with music playing, but I find it impossible to write without music. And not just any music, I’m always trying to…
Murder, mayhem, starvation and the struggle for survival on the streets of South Kensington… all at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibiton. Just visited this incredible exhibition at the…
The problem: I was a full time screenwriter, but now I wanted to write a novel – how could I find the time? The solutions: a) get up an hour…
There’s a great episode in a Steve Irwin show when he troops into the jungle, pulls an anaconda out of a shallow pool, then spends half an hour wrestling with…
