The Ice Children audiobook is nominated for an AUDIE in America

The Ice Children has been shortlisted for an Audie Award in America!

The Audie Awards are American awards given out by the Audio Publishers Association for achievements in excellence (performance and production). You can learn more here.

I am over the moon that The Ice Children has been nominated in the UK-produced books category. It’s a wild list of finalists. The books are all so different. I have no idea how they choose a winner. Considering the competition I have realistic expectations about not winning, but it’s a wonder to me that The Ice Children is a part of the mix. I’m so pleased because I love what Audible has done with the story. The music, the acting, and the production are all so creative and, I believe, first-class.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition

Today, the Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition launches. It was devised by the National Literacy Trust and stage musical Wicked (as part of its acclaimed Wicked Active Learning cultural and social education programme), to inspire the UK’s school children to get creative and use their voices to change the world for the better.

Now in its second year, the competition is based on the themes of one of the most well-known songs from the musical, ‘For Good’, and this year challenges pupils aged 9 – 14 to write persuasively about a positive environmental change they want to see.

This year, I’m delighted to announce that I’m joining the judging panel.

To find out how to take part and all the information about the wicked prizes, click the button!

The Twitchers Museum Adventure!

This February half-term, investigate the wonderful wildlife at your local museum as part of The Twitchers Museum Adventure, organised by Kids in Museums and Walker Books.

The egg-citing national trail for families celebrates the release of Feather, the latest book in the Twitchers Series. I’m super excited about this because Feather is a museum heist!

Over 55 museums across the UK will be taking part from 10 to 25 February 2024. Join birdwatching detectives the Twitchers and explore the beautiful birds and amazing animals in your local museum. Pick up a free activity sheet to join in and have a hoot with your family. Find all the feathered friends hidden in the collection and make your own pledge to protect wildlife. Complete the trail and get a free Twitchers sticker!

My Beetles crawled into the Observer!

Just before Christmas I was approached by the Observer newspaper, who were putting together their annual Christmas puzzle pull out and planning a quiz where the reader had to match the pet to the author. They wanted to know if I’d be happy to take part.

I was delighted that my six-legged lovelies would get to star in a newspaper article and invited the Observer into my writing cabin at the bottom of my garden to photograph my beautiful pets.

I’ve put together a gallery of the photoshoot, and you’ll see we tried a number of set-ups. Unfortunately, the beetles got excited by the bright lights and all the attention and kept flying about. Sophie, the photographer, ended up with a beetle in her hair at one point, but she was an excellent sport about it.