Preparing for an Author Visit

Children will get far more out of an author visit if they are already familiar with the author’s work and are anticipating the visit. It’s much easier for me to engage their enthusiasm on the day if it’s already been engaged by one of my books. Here are some suggestions as to how to achieve this. 

Read the books!

This might seem obvious, but some schools don’t introduce my books to the children until the day of my visit.  If your school subscribes to a local school library service, ask them to provide you with a selection in advance – or you might even buy a few.

Publicise

Make sure everyone knows about the visit by :-

• Putting up copies of my author visit poster around the school.
• Setting up a book display with a selection of my books.
• Feature the visit as an upcoming event in school newsletters.

Visit the web site

Visit this web site where you can find individual pages for most of my books, with excerpts and further information. You can also find lots of free activity sheets, games, posters and teaching notes in the resources section.

Further Advice

Book Trust offer some good general advice about setting up an author visit.

The Society of Authors also offer a guide to organising an author visit.

And author/illustrator Sarah McIntyre has created an excellent Guide to Hosting Author Visits.