The Northern Children’s Book Festival

Had a wonderful time in the North East. Three schools, the first two in the library at Crook, near Durham, and the third at a very large secondary school in Redcar where I read The Journal of Danny Chaucer (Poet) to three groups of 12/13 year olds. Three hours more-or-less solid reading with a song and a few questions and answers thrown in. Tiring, but great fun.

Also I met up with several other writers staying at the same hotel including Korky Paul. How fantastic is that?

The hotel was quite interesting. We had to wait for over an hour for a meal on the first night which was gruesome when it finally arrived (soggy risotto) (not helped by watching England’s dismal football performance against Spain on the bar’s big screen). An unusual bathroom, too, with a mirror so high that only a tall person could see his face in it and with the shower controls near the ceiling. One of our party, Sally Crabtree, who is a musician and writes books for young children, and isn't very tall, said she had to stand on a chair to wash! The following night we went for a Thai meal which was totally delicious. I won’t bore you with the details.

Wrote quite a lot on the train. Well, not literally on the train – it was in a book. Some more work on the graphic novel. Some poem bits. And a haiku. Well, of sorts. (See below)

But it’s good to be home.