Shouting about ShoutSouth!

Question: What do you get when you gather together over ninety 8 to 13-year-olds, 17 published children's writers and illustrators for a three days? 

Answer: Something unique.  Amazing.  Inspiring.  Stunning.


Shoutsouth was the most inspiring festival to be part of.  It was a celebration of story-making organised by  CWISL.  We're a group of published writers and illustrators promoting our love of reading, writing, and illustration with children from all backgrounds. 

Because of government cuts, we didn't get the public grant we requested, so all the preparation work and workshops were done entirely voluntarily.  London South Bank University offered us excellent work areas and an auditorium (perfect for storytelling).  Rymans donated stationery materials.  Others - too many to mention but you know who you are - gave their time not only freely but expertly. 

The children were from a range of South London primary and secondary schools.  Boy, do they have imaginations!  I hosted the opening workshop for my group, which was called The Spark.  The idea was to spark their imaginations with ideas from different sources - life experience, everyday objects, lists.  Even a simple game to break the ice was inspiring.  All the time we asked the question What if...?  The teenagers in my group were obsessed with horror stories and The End of the World but it was noticeable that all the children wanted action and drama.

Other workshops included Spot the Plot, Mad Moody & Murky, and Picture This. 
The children's work will be published on CWISL's  Shoutsouth website. 
 

 

 

A swimmer, a cat, or an alien?

 

Creative five and six-year-old pupils from Reay Primary School in Kennington, South London, wrote these fantastic rhymes - and drew some wonderful pictures to go with them. 

 

They were taking part in a Gifted & Talented workshop with seven other primary schools in the Kennington area.  We pretended to be characters from my book I Could Be, You Could Be - after all, everyone should be an alien at least once in their lives! 

 

Then they used the structure in my book to understand how rhymes work and then to write their own.  No-one cared if it didn't make sense.  That was part of the fun.

 

 

FEAST 2013!

Gorgeously engaged kids joined me for a free story time at community festival FEAST's 2nd birthday celebration today in West Norwood, South London. Thankfully, no-one remembered to take any photos of me in a sunshine-yellow clown's wig.  http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2816549

Story Time at Dulwich Books

Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars... Lola (3) and Isabella (16 months) showed their imaginative play when I read I Could Be, You Could Be during Storytime at Dulwich Books.  Clowns, monkeys, diving dolphins, shooting stars, and bossy kings and queens.  Great fun!

Fringe Festival Fun

The rain tried its hardest but couldn't keep young story-lovers away from McKechnies in Stratford-Upon-Avon, who were hosting a week of storytelling and arty sessions as part of the town's Fringe Festival.  Thank you for defying the elements - it was lovely to meet you all!

Competition Winner!!

Congratulations to Ivor from Mitcham, south London, who was the winner of my competition to celebrate the hardback launch of I Could Be, You Could Be. The challenge was to tell me what you could be - fun or real, silly or sensible. There were some fantastic entries from Year 2 children at Granton Primary School in Streatham.

Rachel & Alina suggested: I could be a mum saying "off to bed", You could be a child saying "where's my ted?"

Ava & Ridwan said: I could be a wolf going howl howl howl, You could be a cat saying miaow miaow miaow.

Rachel & Yasmin came up with: I could be a monster saying rarrrr rarrrr rarrr, You could a child screaming AHHHHHHHHH!

But my favourite was Ivor's: I could be a footballer bouncing up and down, You could be a popstar arriving in town!

Thank you for all of the entries. And good luck to five-year-old Sasha from Western Primary School, Harrogate - her dream is to be a dancer.

Dulwich Book Festival

Songs and stories, role play and mask making - all in a morning's work at the Dulwich Books Festival in south London. I was there with I Could Be, You Could Be as part of a day-long appearance by various writers from CWISL.

Lola and Milo could be... chimps and clowns

The morning was for the little ones and the afternoon was for readers and writers aged 9 and above. If you're a budding reader and writer, take a look at our new online creative magazine. Visit http://www.shoutaboutmagazine.com/