Picture books are nothing special. 300 words? Some childishly simple pictures of cute kids or funny animals? A doddle. How hard can it be? ...

  One of the strange things about being a picture book writer is that you get asked to do loads of events, but because the vast ma...

Welcome to guest blogger Gill Robins . Gill was a leading English teacher who now reviews for Books for Keeps, is a Senior Editor and a publ...

Spurred on by Malachy's lovely post 'Want to see my writing desk? ' I've decide to do my own.  As you can see my writing s...

Like the best compost, ideas need time to ripen and mature. Here's a quick guide to ideas composting, with thanks to www.recyclenow.com...

On World Book Day week, with one visit under my belt and three more to go, I thought I’d write about school author visits. For many of us, i...

Writing, for me, is like two sides of a coin. I spend a good bit of time on my own and at other times I am out and about meeting people of...

What is it about writing that provokes such highs and lows? In my academic work, when I have followed the wrong thread of research, or whe...

'Where do you get your ideas ?' is the first question I am asked, as an author and illustrator. The second is the eternal 'chick...