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So much more whimsical than locks. Chewing gum art on the Millennium Bridge.Buffeted in London.Retro Menace. 1984 Walkman. With shoulder strap, and cassette by @james.nadin73 and @syflettySunday afternoon perfection. A day bed, a cup of Darjeeling and this, in my new office.New chair. New cushion by brilliant friend @bluelizardtextilesAnd so it begins. 3 timelines. 3 narrators. 3 cities. How hard can that be...?Twitter
- When Joanna is way better. As eny fule kno. (Apologies to the many lovely Joannes I know.) twitter.com/joannask331/st… 1 day ago
- RT @ClareElsom: Thanks for the lovely review @soglos soglos.com/children-famil… Really looking forward to Cheltenham. Hope we live up to it!!… 1 day ago
- The world may be going to hell in a handcart, but I just found out Veronica Mars is back with a new series. Get in. And stay gold, Ponyboy. 2 days ago
- If you were wondering why our MA in Writing for Young People at @CWritingBSU was so popular, this may explain. Thre… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 days ago
- Something strangely satisfying about putting ‘see-through Bic’ on my shopping list so Menace can rewind cassettes for my old Walkman. 3 days ago
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Category Archives: middle grade
(Pigeon) seeds of a story
It began with a name, as it so often does for me: The Audacious Birdy Jones. But who she was, what she looked like, what her story was were blurry and inchoate, still lost somewhere in the soup of story … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Reading
Tagged Billy Bremner, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leeds United, pigeons
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Birdy Jones is all alone
Of all the questions I get asked on school visits, there are several perennials: How old are you, Miss? How much do you earn, Miss? Do you know JK Rowling / Jacqueline Wilson / David Walliams / any other much … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Reading
Tagged Joanna Nadin, Joe All Alone, Leeds United, Liz Kessler, MG, Sean Bean, UKMG
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BAFTA, baby!
On Friday, someone asked me how different my life was a decade ago. And other than the Menace being smaller and markedly more menacing, and my home being two roads away, I said it barely was. ten years ago I … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Fiction, middle grade, Teen, YA
Tagged BAFTA, Beryl Richards, CBBC, Daniel Frogson, Joe All Alone, Joe Sims, Liani Samuels, Nadine Marsh-Edwards, Vas Blackwood, Zodiak Kids
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CBBC’s Joe All Alone and the truth about child poverty
Joe All Alone is a book (and, now, BBC TV series) about friendship. It’s a book about family, and what constitutes that today. It’s a book about bullying. It’s a book about difference and acceptance. But beneath all that, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Fiction, middle grade, Teen, Uncategorized, YA
Tagged CBBC, child poverty, Daniel Frogson, Home Alone, Joanna Nadin, Joe All Alone, Joe Sims, Vas Blackwood
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Joe in the post
In the run-up to Christmas, opening the post is always accompanied by a little frisson of anticipation, invariably dampened when I find it is only catalogues or credit statements or a card from someone I have never met addressed to … Continue reading
Posted in Blog, middle grade, Reading, Teen, YA
Tagged Banijay, CBBC, Daniel Frogson, Joe All Alone, Joe Sims, tv drama, Vas Blackwood, Zodiak
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First lines and first chapters
Find out how writers from David Almond to Frank Cottrell Boyce to Sue Townsend have grabbed their readers from the off, and kept them turning pages long into the night. And have a go at writing your own first page … Continue reading
Want to write middle grade?
Want to know how to write middle grade fiction? Want to know what middle grade fiction is and why the bejaysus we keep stealing words from the Americans? Then join me (and Bloomsbury Publishing’s Writers and Artists Yearbook) in this 2.5 … Continue reading
