Category Archives: creative writing
More Worst Class and this time it’s TOTAL MAYHEM!
There are two more adventures for class 4b on their way. This time best friends Stanley and Manjit didn’t LITERALLY mean to get covered in newt pond water just before the Class Photo. And they really didn’t LITERALLY mean to … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Reading
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The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings (and other film stars)
All writers hope for film or TV deal. If any of us say we don’t, we’re lying. Aside from the (often actually quite small) financial boost, it’s a massive pat on the back, and a kick to see characters you’ve … Continue reading
Posted in 1980s, Blog, creative writing, Fiction, love, romance, women's fiction
Tagged Ben Wishaw, Cornwall, Dominic West, du Maurier, Fowey, Joanna Nadin
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World Book Day is going to be LITERALLY brilliant!
Last February, I had the kind of email a writer dreams of; the kind that comes from their lovely editor and begins with ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ in shouty capitals. It was telling me that Rikin and I had been chosen to be … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, creative writing, Events, Fiction, middle grade, Reading, Uncategorized
Tagged Joanna Nadin, Matt Lucas, MG, Michael Morpurgo, middle grade, Nadia Shireen, Simon Farnaby, WBD, World Book Day, Worst Class
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Welcome to 4b: The Worst Class in the World
Schools might be closed for most of us, but for one long-suffering teacher, Mr Nidgett, the classroom is packed with shenanigans. That’s because he’s in charge of 4b, who are LITERALLY The Worst Class in the World, at least according … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Reading, Uncategorized
Tagged Bloomsbury, Funny, humour, Joanna Nadin, MG, reading, Rikin Parekh, school
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A Penny (Dreadful) a day…
Isn’t the world weird? The prospect of being holed up in our homes is daunting, especially for those of us with kids. Mine’s grown now, but many years ago, she was a menace, who would have destroyed the house in … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, Reading
Tagged Joanna Nadin, Penny Dreadful, story time, storytelling
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‘Hull, Nadin!’
Let us set aside for a moment that the University of Hull’s barrel of ‘notable alumni’ was small to start with, and is now very much scraped, and appreciate that I have wanted to do this for more years than … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, women's fiction
Tagged Hull, Lucy Beaumont, Paxman, Tracey Borman, University Challenge, University of Hull
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And another one…
2020-2021 is a busy book year for me, but this one is a biggie. Second adult novel, set in Essex in 1981 and featuring Grifter bikes, Charles and Di, Panda Pops, a Welsh Elvis impersonator, a fake Marc Bolan, and … Continue reading
Posted in 1970s, 1980s, creative writing, Fiction, love, Uncategorized, women's fiction
Tagged 1969, 1980s, 1981, Essex, Harlow, Joanna Nadin, new towns, royal wedding, The Queen of Bloody Everything, women's fiction
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All cheer for Alan
Every so often, a commission gets you thinking. And thinking. And thinking some more. But learning binary? Caesar shifts? How to operate an Enigma machine? This biography of Alan Turing was one of my biggest challenges and delights to write … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, middle grade
Tagged Alan Turing, binary, biography, ciphers, code, Enigma, World War 2
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Head in all the books
I read a lot. A LOT. About sixty so far this year though it feels more like eleventy billion. Some for work, some for pleasure, some for both. Some I’ve put down after two pages because CLUNKY. Some because the … Continue reading
Posted in 1970s, 1980s, Blog, creative writing, Fiction, women's fiction, YA
Tagged Cormoran Strike, Eimear McBride, Emma Glass, Jess Kidd, Sarah Crossan, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tracey Thorn, William Sutcliffe
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My BAFTA-Winning Boy
This is how it started. A small boy I’d glimpsed on a street in Peckham, his sleeping bag on his back like a nylon snail. From that came pages of notes about a boy called Tom, who eventually turned into … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Teen, YA
Tagged BAFTA, Beryl Richards, CBBC, Daniel Frogson, Joe All Alone, Liani Samuel, Nadine Marsh-Edwards, Zodiak Kids
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Joanna Nadin 