Andrew Beattie

Andrew Beattie

London-based author of children's fiction (ages 9-13) and books for adults on history, travel and the environment

Also writes as

N/A
www.andrewbeattie.me.uk
Booking enquiry
Andrew Beattie - author tools

Available for

Workshop, Talk, Reading, Interview, Commission a book

Audiences

Age 7 to 11, Age 11 to 14, Adult

Genres

Fiction, Historical fiction, Travel

Book types

Any, Fiction 8-13, War/Historical

Details

I live in London. I am willing to travel to give lectures, talks or presentations anywhere within Southeast England.

 

Children's Fiction

I have spoken about my book The Secret in the Tower to groups of both children and adults - as set out below. Please contact me if you would like me to do a talk at your school.

The book is a work of historical fiction and I have a thirty-minute powerpoint presentation about how historical themes are presented in the book - including the Tower of London, medieval medicine (including the use of leeches!), Richard III and the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.

October 2022

Talk (with powerpoint presentation) to a class of Year Six pupils at Southern Road Primary School, Plaistow, organized through the National Literacy Trust; as part of a project organized by the NLT I was also interviewed (on camera) by Year Six librarians at the school on the importance of school libraries.

February 2023

Talk to a small group of eight pupils from years 6 and 7 at Eltham College on how a book is written, edited and published.

March 2023

Two separate talks (with powerpoint presentations) to pupils in Years 7/8 and 5/6 at Eltham College and Eltham College Junior School as part of World Book Day (total audience at both talks around 250).

April 2023

Talks (with powerpoint presentations) to three Year Six classes of local primary school children at the Merthyr Tydfil Children's Literary Festival.

June 2023

Talk at Eltham College about the importance of children's historical fiction to Heads of History of various independent senior schools in London and Southeast England.

 

History Books and Cultural Guides

I am available to talk or lecture about places I have written about in my travel and history books. Past engagements include:

March 2010

Contributor (on air) to The Alps (BBC Radio 4, Presenter Misha Glenny) - relating to my book The Alps: A Cultural History

September 2019

Contributor (on air) to a programme on BBC Radio Shropshire relating to my book Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower

September 2023

Lecture (with powerpoint presentation) given at Southwark Cathedral about Greenwich Palace, organized by Tudor Places magazine - relating to my book Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events

 

Books by Andrew Beattie

I have written a number of stage plays for children, which have been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in the UK, the United States and Australia, and in September 2022 I had my first children's novel published, "The Secret in the Tower" (Sweet Cherry Publishing) - the first in a collection of historical novels for readers aged 10-12 set in medieval England. For adults I have written a number of travel guides (for Rough Guides and Cicerone Press among others), cultural guides (published by Signal Books, Simon and Schuster and Oxford University Press) to various regions and cities (including the Alps, the Scottish Highlands, the River Danube and Prague), and books that look at "history through place" - including the places associated with King Arthur and Henry VIII (published by Pen & Sword Publishing).
978-1782268819
The Secret in the Tower

The Secret in the Tower

Jack Broom thinks that war and politics have nothing to do with him. He is a simple apothecary’s boy dreaming of becoming a surgeon – until soldiers mistake him for a boy of noble birth. Narrowly avoiding being dragged to the Tower of London, Jack sets out on a perilous mission to find out who he truly is. With the help of his new friend Alice, he uncovers conspiracies, treason, and the deadly lengths people will go to for power. 
978-1399007788
Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events

Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events

The story of Henry VIII is well known. He is the subject of scholarly and popular biographies and of numerous fictional works. But this book tells the story of Henry VIII in a very different way to any of these: through the places where the events of his life unfolded. From Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London to the site of the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais where Henry met the French King Francis I for a week of pageantry in 1520, and from his lavish palaces in London to quieter manor houses in the English countryside which he visited during his annual summer "progress", a whole new light is thrown on this most compelling of historical figures.  
978-0199768349
The Danube - A Cultural History

The Danube - A Cultural History

The Danube is the longest river in western and central Europe. Rising amidst the beautiful wooded hills of Germany's Black Forest, it touches or winds its way through ten countries and four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea through a vast delta whose silt-filled channels spread across eastern Romania. From earliest times, the river has provided a route from Europe to Asia that was followed by armies and traders, while empires, from the Macedonian to the Habsburg, rose and fell along its length. Then, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Danube took on the role of a watery thread that unified a continent divided by the Iron Curtain. In the late 1980s the Iron Curtain lifted but the Danube valley soon became an arena for conflict during the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Now, passing as it does through some of the world's youngest nations, including Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the river is a tangible symbol of a new, peaceful, and united Europe as well as a vital artery for commercial and leisure shipping. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of the landscape through which the Danube flows. 
978-1526727817
Following in the Footsteps of King Arthur

Following in the Footsteps of King Arthur

The story of King Arthur is one of the best known in English history. This probably mythical ruler has been the subject of thousands of books; yet this one tells his story in a way that is wholly new - through the places where the events surrounding his life supposedly unfolded. From Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Arthur's reputed place of birth, to Slaughterbridge in the same county, one of the contenders for the location of his final battle against the Saxons, and from Cadbury Castle in Somerset, one of the numerous claimants to be the site of Arthur's fort of Camelot, to Glastonbury, where in 1191 his grave was reputedly discovered by local monks, the trail through some of England's most his most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of legends. 
978-1789195897
The Rough Guide to Switzerland

The Rough Guide to Switzerland

Practical travel guide to Switzerland points-of-interest structured lists of all sights and off-the-beaten-track treasures, with detailed colour-coded maps, practical details about what to see and to do in Switzerland, how to get there and around, pre-departure information, as well as top time-saving tips, like a visual list of things not to miss in Switzerland, expert author picks and itineraries to help you plan your trip.  

Photos

Andrew Beattie - first image

Keywords

CHILDREN'S FICTION (9-12) CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION ENGLISH HISTORY EUROPEAN CULTURAL HISTORY EUROPEAN TRAVEL HENRY VIII KING ARTHUR RICHARD III WORLD BOOK DAY