Available for
Workshop, Talk, Commission a bookAudiences
Age 5 to 7, Age 7 to 11Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Fable, Fairy tale, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical fiction, Humour, Legend, Magical realism, Mystery, Realistic fictionBook types
Fiction for childrenOrganisations
- Society for Storytelling
- Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Details
“The whole visit was a brilliant experience for our school.”
“A literary experience not to be missed.”
“The perfect way to engage reluctant readers.”
“Ed is a consummate story teller and his lively, madcap stories have universal appeal.”
“Some have even begun writing stories at home as a result.”
(Full references and copy of enhanced CRB provided to all schools)
I love visiting schools. It's great to see the children totally immersed in my stories, and then - even better - to hear them coming up with so many ideas of their own.
In my best year to date, I visited 26 primary schools, presented to 5,700 children and signed 4,500 books.
I have one major aim for all visits: the children should feel more excited about reading and writing after I've visited.
I have written sixteen books for 8-12 year olds. Eleven of these are novels, but what children love best are my books of crazy short stories: the Wicked Tales series (up to Wicked Tales Five now).
I mainly work with KS2 in primary schools, but I also provide separate KS1 sessions. Most schools want a session that combines lively storytelling with some ideas on reading and writing - usually with some imagination exercises built in.
I also provide creative writing workshops and powerpoint presentations of how I collaborate with my illustrators.
I can enthuse all children: well-behaved or the opposite; those from families that read and from families that don't; high-achieving or not. Schools tell me I have a big impact on boys and reluctant readers.
I HAVE TWO WAYS OF CHARGING. I have been a teacher and don't like using school literacy budgets that should be spent on books, so I prefer to earn my fee through sales. I usually don't charge at all for schools in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh, Hampshire or Berkshire: I sell enough books to make this unnecessary. Where the school is more than an hour away, we can either agree a flat fee based on the Society of Authors scale, or a greatly reduced fee subject to satisfactory arrangements for selling my books at the school.
I also make follow up visits to some schools and run projects with them (eg publishing a school's book of stories).