I came to writing through reading. I don't know if there's any other way, but that's certainly how it worked for me. So if I come to your school, I'll be talking about reading as well as writing. Reading to me is a huge pleasure - and it's also the pathway to practically everything. A book can take you anywhere - into other worlds, other times, other minds. 

My newest book, Emily's Surprising Voyage , was published by Walker in August 2010. It was long listed for the carnegie Medal, which was a great honour! For newly confident readers, it's set on Mr Brunel's fantastic ship, the ss Great Britain, which you can go to see in Bristol Harbour. When it was built, the Great Britain was the biggest, fastest ship in the world. It was the first vessel to be be made out of iron, and the first that could operate on steam. It was, and is, a truly stunning ship. 

The book before this was Warrior King. Set in the Dark Ages, it's about Alfred the Great, his daughter Fleda, a mysteriously magical lady called Cerys, and how they save Britain from the Vikings. For more information, just go to the page.

 

 A  BIG thank you to the children in years five and six at Wood Farm School in Oxford. I went to visit them recently and they were FANTASTIC! They made me really welcome, and they asked some brilliant questions about Warrior King and about writing generally. They've done lots of interesting work about the Anglo-Saxons, and they're writing some great stories of their own about Beowulf.