I’m pleased to share a news update from local author, Richard Hardie, and to introduce new Authors Reach author, Francesca Tyer.
Richard and Francesca have celebrated World Book Day in the best way imaginable – by talking about books and stories to school children. Encourage a love of reading in the young, hopefully that love will stay with them for life. (I know it did for me!) See both links for World Book Day to find out more. . See Richard’s report below.
World Book Day 2020
As both the author of the Temporal Detective Agency books (Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords) and a publisher of nine other authors under the Authors Reach Limited banner, World Book Day has always been a highlight in the year for me.
Last year I went to Pentrehafod School in Swansea together with the local W.H.Smith manager and gave two author workshops to Years 6 and 7 on how I write my books. There was a lot of dressing up and loads of fun had by everyone. The kids were amazing and came up with some stunning ideas which we developed into a short story story that went on display in the Swansea W.H. Smith store.
This year one of my new authors, Francesca Tyer, and I were invited to go to Otterbourne Primary School. Francesca’s new book The Firestone was launched last week and we were delighted when Otterbourne Primary agreed that we could launch the paperback version at the school on World Book Day. We arrived in a heavy rain, but the welcome we received was wonderful. Every pupil was dressed as a character from a book, but amazingly so were the teachers, with the head teacher dressed as the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Francesca and I felt underdressed!
Francesca gave an excellent talk to the whole 280 pupil school assembly on the importance of books and reading. We then together gave author workshop to Years 3 and 4, followed by Years 5 and 6. We had 50 kids in each session and we couldn’t have asked for two more enthusiastic groups. They were tremendous and their ideas for a short story based on the author rules of Who, What, When, Where, When and How were equally great and challenging! They called the rules “5 Bums on Seats and a rugby post!”, or WWWWWH. What great minds!
When we left Otterbourne Primary School at midday, Francesca and I drove into Southampton and spent the rest of the afternoon doing a book signing as the guests of the manager of the city’s W.H.Smith store. At 4.00pm we left for home to give our voices a rest, having had a day to be remembered.
Roll on World Book Day 2021!
Richard Hardie
Many thanks, Richard, for the news update. Good luck, Francesca with your debut novel. It is an exciting time to have your first book in your hands and being “out there” promoting it. (The hard work behind that kind of thing shouldn’t be underestimated either!).
Related Posts:-
Adventures of a Fantasy Author – Richard Hardie Interview Part 2
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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