School Events
Children gain much more from an author visit when they have had a chance to read their books before the visit.
Information on all authors is available below, and many of them have a website.
All of their books are available in West Dunbartonshire Libraries and we would like to encourage everyone to read them.
School groups by invitation only.
Yvonne Coppard
Travelling up from Cambridge, where she lives with her husband and two grown up daughters will be the inimitable Yvonne Coppard, a favourite children’s and teen author who has also written for children’s BBC television. As well as being a writer she has been a teacher, a secretary, an adviser and a petrol pump attendant. Yvonne writes mainly for young people but has also written non-fiction for teachers in the areas of child protection, drama and creative writing. Books include: the ‘Alex’ series, The ‘School From Hell’ series,
Jamie and Sooz,
To be a Millionaire,
The Odd Couple, and many more.
Linda Strachan
Linda Strachan was born on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Linda has had many jobs including lab technician, model, running a restaurant and buyer for a clothing shop. Linda’s first books were published in 1996. She now has over 50 published books written for all ages of children, many of them for use in schools and some are for children with special educational needs and reluctant readers. Her Latest series is the 'Hamish McHaggis' stories, the latest,
Hamish McHaggis and the Lost Prince will be published in May 2008. Linda was awarded a Scottish Arts Council professional development award in 2004. Books include: the 'Hamish McHaggis' series,
What Colour is Love?,
Greyfriars Bobby, 'Zoola' series and
Tales on a Cold Dark Night.
D.A. Nelson
Dawn Ann Nelson was born in Glasgow and now lives in Cardross with her husband and two children. She has worked as a journalist and in Public Relations and is delighted to have fulfilled her ambition to write novels. Dark Isle is a captivating and original fantasy novel for children which announces D.A. Nelson’s debut as an exciting new storyteller. The story tells of a dragon with a grudge, a young girl learning to be brave and a resourceful Dodo. She has just sold the publishing rights to major publishing companies in the USA, Japan and Europe. Dawn is currently creating a novel study for teachers to use in the classroom to go along with Dark Isle, and is also working on a sequel to Dark Isle.
Joe Donnelly
We are very proud to be presenting, for the first time at our Festival, our very own local author Joe Donnelly who lives in Dumbarton. He has an MPhil degree in American Studies and is a former award-winning campaigning journalist. He is a prolific horror/thriller writer and has written numerous scary books for adults in the 90’s.
Jack Flint and the Redthorn Sword is the first instalment in a trilogy of exciting young adult adventures. The second in the series,
Jack Flint and the Spellbinder’s Curse, is due for release in August 2008.
Julia Donaldson
Julia Donaldson grew up in London with her parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey. After studying drama and French at Bristol University, Julia enjoyed a career as a singer/songwriter for children’s T.V. This led to Julia fulfilling her childhood dream of being a poet when one of her T.V. songs was made into her first book
A Squash and A Squeeze in 1993, with illustrations by Axel Scheffler. Since then Julia has written several picture books including the breakthrough
The Gruffalo, and more recently
Tiddler. She has also written fiction for older children including
The Giant and the Joneses, which is to be made into a film by Warner Brothers, and the 'Princess Mirror-Belle' series. Julia has also written several educational titles including the Songbirds phonic reading scheme. Julia has won several awards for her work including the Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud, the British Book Awards (Children’s Book of the Year, 2005), the Scottish Children’s Book Award, and the Book Trust Early Years Award.
