Penny Joelson

Penny Joelson

YA author

www.pennyjoelson.co.uk
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Booking enquiry
Penny Joelson - author tools

Available for

Workshop, Talk, Interview

Audiences

Age 11 to 14, Age 14 to 16, Age 16 to 18+, Adult

Genres

Crime, Fiction, Fiction narrative, Literary realism, Mystery, Realistic fiction, Romance, Suspense-thriller

Book types

Fiction for young-adults

Awards

  • Winner of 13 awards including: NE Book Award 2021, FCBG Children's Book Award (Older Readers) 2018; Girls Day School Trust Book Award 2019; Leeds Book Award 2018 (11-14), Sussex Amazing Book Award; Cumbria Book Award; Worcestershire Teen Book Award 2018, Carnegie Nominated 2018.

Organisations

Details

I live in Hertfordshire and love visiting schools. I can offer half day or single session visits. These can be talks and/or workshops or a mixture and in addition I am happy to offer a short assembly talk or lunch with the book club or creative writing club!

I am thrilled that I Have No Secrets has won ten awards, with Girl in the Window winning two and one so far for Things the Eye Can't See!

My books are mysteries/thrillers and the protagonists have disabilities/health issues including cerebral palsy, M.E. and visual impairment. I have experience of M.E. and have also worked with disabled people and I do very thorough research. I've had very positive reactions from people with disabilities who have never seen themselves in books and from people who feel they have new awareness due to reading my books.

I Have No Secrets has been used by a number of schools as a 'Whole School' or 'Whole Year' Read and I am happy to support schools who choose to use my books in this way. More information about this can be found on my website: www.pennyjoelson.co.uk

Please do contact me to discuss your requirements!

As well as school visits I have spoken at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Jersey Literary Festival, KidsList Cologne and at the SLA Librarian's Conference.

I teach adults who want to write children's books so can also offer workshops and talks for adult groups including teachers and librarians who might like to try their hand at writing for children!

I still have limited availability for the week of World Book Day 2025! I am also open to residencies or longer term involvement with a school.

Event feedback

We spent a delightful afternoon with Penny at KGGS. I thought Penny's choice of reading from I Have No Secrets hit just the right spot, the talk was well paced and interesting. The students asked lots of questions and were clearly engaged. We also sold a lot of books. The combination of thriller/protagonists with disabilities works well in highlighting diversity issues in schools.

Cathy Day (KGGS / Cathy Day)

Thank you so much for a wonderful morning, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and listening to your fascinating presentations, and the extracts from your books! Thank you also for raising our awareness of people and characters with communicative disabilities, representation is so important and we really learned a lot from your work!

Amie Golding (The Cathedral School, Llandaff)

I am pleased to say that Penny Joelson came to The Chalfonts Community College on Thursday 23rd February and gave a fantastic presentation to 295 Year 7, 8 and 9 students. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and they gave some great feedback on a Survey Monkey that was sent out to them. She also did a workshop with 35 students and this was also a huge success. The students enjoyed it. I would not hesitate to recommend her to other schools. Kind regards, Elaine.

Elaine Brooks (The Chalfonts Community College)

Books by Penny Joelson

978-1-4052-8615-2
I Have No Secrets

I Have No Secrets

A YA thriller. How do you catch a killer if you can't move and have no voice? Jemma is 14 and has severe cerebral palsy but she is the only one who knows the identity of a murderer.... 
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Waterstones Amazon
9781405286169
On author's website
Girl in the Window

Girl in the Window

Who is the Girl in the Window? Kasia has M.E. and watches the world go by from her window. She's not well enough to leave the house, but she sees everything. Then Kasia witnesses an abduction... But nobody is missing. Does the girl in the window hold the key to the mystery? 
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Waterstones
9781405294911
On author's website
Things The Eye Can't See

Things The Eye Can't See

A girl and her guide dog get involved in searching for a missing boy 
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Waterstones

Keywords

AAC CARNEGIE CEREBRAL PALSY CHRONIC FATIGUE COMMUNITY COUNTY LINES CRIME CRIME CULTURAL DIVERSITY DISABILITY DIVERSE DIVERSITY DRAMA EMPATHY ETHNIC MINORITIES FAMILIES GUIDE DOG HERTFORDSHIRE HINDU HOUSEBOUND LONDON LONDON M.E. MYSTERY MYSTERY NEIGHBOURS ONLINE POLISH REALISM SKYPE TEENAGERS TEENS THRILLER UNUSUAL NARRATOR UPLIFTING VISUAL IMPAIRMENT VOICE WORLD BOOK DAY ZOOM