AUTHOR VISITS
When not writing, Dan enjoys visiting schools, libraries, bookshops and festivals to meet with young readers and talk about his books.
His appearances are usually aimed at children aged 8-12 and can be tailored to various group sizes or levels of ability, be it avid bookworms or reluctant young readers - all to encourage a love of reading and to inspire future writers. Dan currently offers:
AUTHOR TALK
As part of this visit Dan talks about his journey to becoming an author and his inspirations for writing books. The talk consists of:
An interactive presentation, 45-60 minutes
A short reading of one of his books (optional)
A Q&A session (optional)
A book signing (optional)
During his presentation, Dan talks about his childhood growing up in the 1980s, hobbies, his passion for computer games, films and books, his time working in libraries and bookshops, how he came to start writing stories, inspiration for Sky Thieves and The Light Hunters, and his journey to becoming a published author. Dan's talk is humorous and interactive, with lots of back and forth between the author and the children. At the end, Dan ties it all together with a message on hard-work and resilience.
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
Can be booked as a standalone workshop or combined with an author talk.
The aim of this workshop is to inspire young writers and boost creative writing skills. Dan focuses his session on the benefits of reading and how to structure a story with lots of fun activities and back and forth with the author. Run in a group-based setting (usually 30-60 children) this workshop takes up to 60-75 minutes and can be tailored to different ability levels.
Fun and informative, pupils will leave Dan's creative writing workshop raring to read more books and write their own stories.
If you would like to contact Dan about appearances in schools, libraries, bookstores or festivals, please submit the form below.
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
There are lots of free materials available to aid further learning, reading and writing. Check out Sky Thieves Activity Pack for fun activities which you can run in your class or a reading group before or after the author visit.
For the full list of resources, go to the Resources page.