Jasmine: Discusses our upcoming Meet Our Authors events

We have a host of wonderful author events coming up on the Scottish Book Trust calendar. Jasmine drops by the blog to update us all about the new developments and preparations for the up-coming Meet Our Authors events. 

I am really pleased to present our new Meet Our Authors teaser video with Michael Morpurgo! We have saved it in two versions (a special short one for the busy people amongst you - available on our YouTube channel), so you can watch whichever suits your schedule. But I am getting ahead of myself a little bit here.

Our next Meet Our Authors event will be with Julia Donaldson on Wednesday 26^th May at 11am suitable for 3-8 year olds. Though if you are a fan, there is nothing stopping you from watching the event as well. The preparations for it have been going on for quite some time now. Kate, our new children’s programme assistant, has been busy making signs with animal noises for the event, we have to make sure that the Gruffalo will find the venue, make sure everybody knows that you can submit questions for Julia before and during the event and much more. I hope that if you are planning to watch the event with children – either at home or at school – you have been making signs with them too to participate in the event! Do also have a read of What the Ladybird Heard, Julia will be talking about it. Should you miss the live event, we will have it on the website to watch again from the 28^th May.

You can also still enter the Gruffalo competition on facebook/meetourauthors – win a Gruffalo Trunki filled with goodies as well as ten signed copies of What the Ladybird Heard. If you become a fan of the site, you’ll be the first to hear about the brilliant prize we are planning for our Michael Morpurgo competition...

I am very much looking forward to Michael Morpurgo’s event on the 17^th June at 11am. In preparation I have been reading all of Michael’s new books – he has quite a few coming out recently. Not Bad For a Bad Lad (Templar) is a beautiful hardback book, illustrated by Michael Foreman and The Kites Are Flying (Walker), again a lovely hardback, illustrated by Laura Carlin, to name just a few of them. We commissioned teachers resources for The Kites Are Flying (as well as for Butterfly Lion and Alone On A Wide Wide Sea), to use in the classroom. I am now looking forward to An Elephant in the Garden, which is next on my reading list. Are there any books by Michael Morpurgo you love? Let me know.

Other News:

Art students, young authors and illustrators from schools across the city have been working with Vivian French to make an extraordinary exhibition of animal books. The Exhibition opens at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43 High Street, Edinburgh on the 5th of June to 31 July.

Vampire titles are now at the top of every child's summer reading list and what’s great is there is now a parody for both parents and children to enjoy. Tim Collins releases Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Because the Undead Have Feelings Too on 20th May. Perfect in time for some summer reading!

There is still time left for you to apply for the Young Writers Awards if you are between 14 and 17 and a resident of Scotland. Love to write? Dream of getting published? Apply now to be mentored by teen author Cathy Forde, meet agents and visit a top London publisher.

Check out the details online and get your application in! Go to www.scottishbooktrust.com/youngwritersawards

Have a lovely weekend!