Community > Author in Residence
Author in Residence
During 2021, I worked as Author in Residence for Inspire Culture, Nottinghamshire’s Public and School Library Service.
The project, called Wild Words and Walls, supported the 2021 Summer Reading Challenge and focussed on creating poetry and stories inspired by the natural world.
(image credit: Jesse Gray Primary School)
Enquire online if you would like to discuss a project with me.
Wild Words and Walls
I worked with artist Alex Godwin, aka Billy, and children at Jesse Gray Primary School to create as series of poems and stories written from the perspective of an animal, plant or natural feature in four different global habitats.
Alex then worked with children to create pop-art to illustrate their work.
Fabulous Creative Writing
Children created some fabulous poetry and stories told from the perspective of an animal, plant or natural feature. We looked at four natural habitats: The Arctic, North American Forests, the Ocean and the Desert.
I provided teachers with a reading list to help introduce each environment then worked with class groups over zoom to generate ideas and create some group poems and stories.
Public Library Events
We also ran a series of workshops for families at Nottinghamshire public libraries. These were done as live, virtual sessions as libraries were closed due to the covid pandemic.
Supporting the Summer Reading Challenge
The project was designed to lead in to the Summer Reading Challenge, which in 2021 had the theme of Wild World Heroes.
We also provided downloadable resources for anyone to use.
Exhibition and Celebration
The children’s writing and art work was displayed at a fabulous exhibition at West Bridgford Library, Nottingham.
The exhibition also included commissioned poems by me, and artwork by Alex.
Children came to celebrate their achievements at the exhibition with myself, Alex and staff from Inspire Culture.
Commissioned Work and Project Photos
Here are the poems and illustrations Alex and I created, together with some other images from the project.
