I won something!
by Mark RobsonNo, it wasn’t a book award. I won a trophy for being ‘Club Person of the Year’ in Master Jackson White’s Tae Kwon Do Club. Given the other nominees, I feel most honoured to have been chosen as the winner. Either of the other two could easily have won it, but I get this lovely [...]
Epsom Evergreen Event!
by Mark RobsonHad a fun signing in Epsom Waterstones today. Given that I sold out of books by 2pm, I’d say it was pretty successful too! Naturally ‘you know who’ was there stealing the show again, this time playing the fairy at the top of the store’s Christmas tree! Honestly, who would have thought a fairy would [...]
Bristol Book Bonanza
by Mark RobsonI’ve been on the road all week signing books. Today it was Westfields WHSmith, but yesterday and Wednesday I was in Bristol, Cribbs Causeway. Of course, Pilliwiggins was there too, hogging the limelight. She was most miffed that she didn’t have a stack of books to sign, but made up for it by schmoozing the [...]
Pillywiggins and the First Aid Course.
by Mark RobsonIt turns out that the elf I elf-napped was not an elf, but a very unusual fairy by the name of Pillywiggins! I try not to mess with fairy folk where possible – you never know what sort of havoc they might wreak with their magic. However, having inadvertently kidnapped a fairy and taken her [...]
I am an Elf-napper!
by Mark RobsonMwah ha ha haaaa! I elf-napped fellow author Julia Jarman’s elf at the Kimbolton Christmas Fair today. Perfect timing really… I was considering a bout of ‘elfy eatin’ and now I have the perfect ingredients to start!!!
Learning Leaps in Literacy! Where’s the Fun Gone?
by Mark RobsonIs there a magic wand we authors can wave that will instantly engage young people and make them want to read and write? I think the simple answer to that is no. However, I do sometimes sit with my head in my hands and wonder what on earth possesses those who devise the English syllabus [...]
Very Able Writers!
by Mark RobsonI’ve just got back from my first two ‘Able Writers’ days. This is a scheme run by Authors Abroad, who arrange to gather together groups of the very best young writers from several schools into a host school and give them a whole day of workshops with a professional writer. It was an eye-opener, I [...]
Another year, another KLQ begins!
by Mark RobsonMy association with the Kid’s Lit Quiz has been a long one, but yesterday marked a milestone – the furthest I’d ever travelled to attend a regional heat. Trevor and Diane, the local coordinators for the quiz, had collared me at the UK Final last year and coerced me into making the trek and I’m [...]
Mark’s & Sparkes’ Success!
by Mark RobsonWhat a great day we had in the Daventry Barcelo Hotel yesterday! Lots of laughs with a super group of teachers, librarians and literacy coordinators. Ali Sparkes and I led a series of creative writing workshops that were designed to equip teachers with lots of fun ideas to take back into their classrooms. The overwhelming [...]
Oops! Sorry.
by Mark RobsonFor anyone hoping to come to see me signing with David Melling on Saturday in Abingdon, I most humbly apologise – I won’t be there. I’ve just discovered I made a diary hiccough and had double-booked myself. I had previously agreed to a signing in Banbury Waterstones with the lovely Linda Newbery and had neglected [...]
