With the new school year just beginning and schools planning their year ahead, I thought it an appropriate time to look at author visits to schools. I’m not going to go into the whys and wherefores – Jonny Zucker did that brilliantly in his article in The Guardian last November: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/09/author-school-visit-writing-confidence
But I thought it might be useful to look at some of the ways to make your visit as pleasurable as possible for both the school and the author. So, today I’m going to cover some of the preliminaries. Next time I’ll look at how to make the actual event as much fun as possible for everyone concerned.
Here goes:
1) DO choose your author appropriately.
It’s important that your author can relate to the students. I write mainly for KS3, so when the teacher of an infant or primary school emails me to do an author talk, I know they haven’t given the event much thought. Make your invitation personal rather than a round-robin which contacts every author from a certain website.
2) DO make sure your funding is in place before you contact your author.
Arranging a visit takes time. There are usually several phone calls and/or a long email correspondence with teachers or librarians about a visit to their school. We discuss the age range, group size, type of visit: series of author talks? Or creative writing workshops? Or a mixture of both? Not many children’s authors have secretaries or a PA therefore this is all precious time they take out of writing their books. It is frustrating therefore, several weeks down the line (when other school might have been turned down because that date was booked) to receive an email to say that the funding isn’t available after all.
3) DO listen to what your author is prepared to do!
This might sound obvious but most visiting authors have very clear guidelines on their websites and I also send an attachment to schools on the initial enquiry, setting out what I do: maximum group size and how long the different types of events last. Some authors will only do talks, some who have been teachers are willing do writing workshops, some will only do reading. Make sure you are familiar with your author and what they offer.
Several times I have arrived at schools, believing that both parties knew what the day looked like, only to be asked to do something entirely different. The following are just a few of the examples:
· “Instead of talking about your books, we’d like your talk to be on book jackets in general.” Actually, I know hardly anything about book jackets. Most authors have very little input into what goes on the cover or their books – that’s the domain of the publisher.
· “I want the writing workshop to be on travel writing because that’s what Year 9 are covering at the moment.” Travel writing is a very specific skill and is a world away from writing fiction. Plus, workshops need a lot of preparation on my part.
· “There’s a tutor group who are missing out, you couldn’t squeeze one more talk in could you?” Talking to a large group of students, reading aloud and then answering questions for an hour at a time is extremely enjoyable but it is exhausting. This is why most visiting authors limit themselves to a maximum of 3 sessions in a day.
4) DO understand that school visits are often a vital part of an author’s income.
With the exception of a few highly successful writers, most children’s authors charge for visiting schools. I have had schools ask me to talk for free: `because every pound spent on paying you is a pound less we can spend on books.’ Most librarians report that, following an author visit, students are more interested in both reading and writing books themselves. In stead of thinking of your author visit as spending money you can’t afford, try seeing it as something that will enhance and enrich your student’s lives. More: `speculating to accumulate!’
And finally for today:
5) DO try to prepare the students for the visit.
It’s not necessary for the kids to have read the visiting author’s books but it is helpful for them to know a bit about what sort of books they write and something about their lives.
Some schools organise competitions around visits: short story writing, poetry, design a cover for one of the books etc.
I had one school visit where, as soon as I entered the lobby, I saw an array of artwork about me and my books. And the display extended all the way from the foyer to the library. That was a very humbling and emotional moment for me, I can tell you. What an honour!
If you do decide to run a competition, one word of warning – please, please don’t ask your author to read every single story or view every piece of art. Ask them to judge the best by all means, but please compile a short list of no more than 4 or 5.
Next time I’ll look at the actual visit and how to make that as rewarding and as much fun as possible for everyone. In the meantime, this is an excellent website listing authors who do schools' visits:
But I thought it might be useful to look at some of the ways to make your visit as pleasurable as possible for both the school and the author. So, today I’m going to cover some of the preliminaries. Next time I’ll look at how to make the actual event as much fun as possible for everyone concerned.
Here goes:
1) DO choose your author appropriately.
It’s important that your author can relate to the students. I write mainly for KS3, so when the teacher of an infant or primary school emails me to do an author talk, I know they haven’t given the event much thought. Make your invitation personal rather than a round-robin which contacts every author from a certain website.
2) DO make sure your funding is in place before you contact your author.
Arranging a visit takes time. There are usually several phone calls and/or a long email correspondence with teachers or librarians about a visit to their school. We discuss the age range, group size, type of visit: series of author talks? Or creative writing workshops? Or a mixture of both? Not many children’s authors have secretaries or a PA therefore this is all precious time they take out of writing their books. It is frustrating therefore, several weeks down the line (when other school might have been turned down because that date was booked) to receive an email to say that the funding isn’t available after all.
3) DO listen to what your author is prepared to do!
This might sound obvious but most visiting authors have very clear guidelines on their websites and I also send an attachment to schools on the initial enquiry, setting out what I do: maximum group size and how long the different types of events last. Some authors will only do talks, some who have been teachers are willing do writing workshops, some will only do reading. Make sure you are familiar with your author and what they offer.
Several times I have arrived at schools, believing that both parties knew what the day looked like, only to be asked to do something entirely different. The following are just a few of the examples:
· “Instead of talking about your books, we’d like your talk to be on book jackets in general.” Actually, I know hardly anything about book jackets. Most authors have very little input into what goes on the cover or their books – that’s the domain of the publisher.
· “I want the writing workshop to be on travel writing because that’s what Year 9 are covering at the moment.” Travel writing is a very specific skill and is a world away from writing fiction. Plus, workshops need a lot of preparation on my part.
· “There’s a tutor group who are missing out, you couldn’t squeeze one more talk in could you?” Talking to a large group of students, reading aloud and then answering questions for an hour at a time is extremely enjoyable but it is exhausting. This is why most visiting authors limit themselves to a maximum of 3 sessions in a day.
4) DO understand that school visits are often a vital part of an author’s income.
With the exception of a few highly successful writers, most children’s authors charge for visiting schools. I have had schools ask me to talk for free: `because every pound spent on paying you is a pound less we can spend on books.’ Most librarians report that, following an author visit, students are more interested in both reading and writing books themselves. In stead of thinking of your author visit as spending money you can’t afford, try seeing it as something that will enhance and enrich your student’s lives. More: `speculating to accumulate!’
And finally for today:
5) DO try to prepare the students for the visit.
It’s not necessary for the kids to have read the visiting author’s books but it is helpful for them to know a bit about what sort of books they write and something about their lives.
Some schools organise competitions around visits: short story writing, poetry, design a cover for one of the books etc.
I had one school visit where, as soon as I entered the lobby, I saw an array of artwork about me and my books. And the display extended all the way from the foyer to the library. That was a very humbling and emotional moment for me, I can tell you. What an honour!
If you do decide to run a competition, one word of warning – please, please don’t ask your author to read every single story or view every piece of art. Ask them to judge the best by all means, but please compile a short list of no more than 4 or 5.
Next time I’ll look at the actual visit and how to make that as rewarding and as much fun as possible for everyone. In the meantime, this is an excellent website listing authors who do schools' visits:
Have a fun visit!
