I spend most of my time sketching or painting in my studio. I also spend lots of time writing and re-writing stories at my computer. So it is a lot of fun to go out and visit the children who read my books, in their schools, or to libraries, to read my books and paint with them or to answer all their interesting questions. SCHOOL VISITS My visits always include an interactive/read-aloud session from one or more of my books. This is usually noisy! But it’s also about listening. I also love to do painting workshops. I can show the children how to emulate the illustrations in my books. My illustrations are inspired by African art and are pleasingly easy for children to produce. They always do fantastic work!
Additionally, I can show the children how I work and the story/book-making process right from the spark of an idea, through to rough sketches, storyboards and actual illustrations to the printed book itself. I have dummy books and print proofs etc. to help demonstrate all the steps.
For Key Stage 2 children I can do a book making/designing workshop instead of painting, if preferred. The children can either produce a dummy book, using only pictures to tell their own story, plus a cover design - so more of an art project. Or I can discuss books from the writing aspect and they can produce a written story, a storyboard, an idea for the title/cover and think about how they would present their book proposal to a publisher. Then at the end, depending on time, there is the ever popular question and answer session. I am happy to do book-signing and selling too. If you would like me to bring the books with me, that is fine, but I need good notice of the date so that I can order the appropriate number of books from my publisher. Alternatively, you could order books from your local bookseller on a ‘sale or return’ basis. Visits can be tailored in length and content for different age groups from simple read-aloud sessions to full art/writing workshops. Typically in a full-day visit to a school I would do three reading/painting/Q&A session workshops, each approximately, one to one and a half hours long and a short talk if required, in assembly. LIBRARY VISITS I visited St. John’s Wood library where a large crowd of children and parents enjoyed an interactive reading of ‘Spooky Spooky Spooky’ and a very popular ‘Halloween character’ collage session followed by Halloween biscuits.
----------------------------------------------------- With regards to the fee, I usually stick to the minimum fee specified by the Society of Authors. I am happy to travel to schools and libraries in neighbouring counties, but if I need to stay overnight or travel further afield, I will need to add travel and accommodation expenses to my fee. For further information or to book a visit, please email me initially at cathy@cathymaclennan.com |
