author visits
Benefits of an author visit
I love visiting schools and meeting readers. Here are some of the talks and workshops that I offer, but I’m always happy to adapt these, based on what works best for you, your organisation or school.
Every session is interactive and tailored to the age and size of the group.
I am Empathy Lab trained and all my visits draw on the amazing power of stories to build empathy.
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Sparks creativity and imagination, without the pressure of assessment.
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Includes everyone, even reluctant readers, through storytelling starting points like music, artefacts and diary entries.
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Builds empathy and creates a safe space to explore issues of identity, belonging and family.
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Links into the PHSE curriculum, including LGBTQ+ and other diverse families.
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Provides new reading ideas, builds excitement around reading and shows how 'real people' can be authors and creativity is something that everyone has access to!
Contact me to book a visit. Looking forward to hearing from you!
The Fights That Make Us
Audience
Years 5-8 (upper KS2 and lower KS3). Ideal for a whole year-group assembly or smaller creative writing class. Fits well with LGBT+ History Month or any time of year.
Content
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Explore 1980s artefacts, from phones to fashion, guess what they are, and look what's changed and why.
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Interactive diary reading and activity from The Fights That Make Us.
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Devise time capsules and plan their own historical stories.
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My author journey and Q&A.
Length
60 minutes (including time for book signing)
"Our Year 7 students loved Sarah's visit, it was engaging, funny, and thought-provoking.
Sarah does a fantastic job at getting students excited about her work and reading for pleasure in general."
Lucas Maxwell, school librarian
Concert catastrophe!
Audience
Years 5-8 (upper KS2 and lower KS3). Ideal for a classroom session.
Content
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Musical icebreakers.
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Readings from A Sister Like You.
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Whole class or small group activity to spark imaginations and create characters and situations for a school concert that goes wrong!
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My author journey and Q&A.
Length
60 minutes (including time for book signing)
LGBTQ+ group session
Audience
Years 7-13 who are part of a school LGBTQ+, Pride or Diversity group.
Content
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Informal chat, quiz and Q&A about writing, LGBTQ+ books and characters.
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Reading from Nothing Ever Happens Here, Proud of Me, The Fights That Make Us, Just Like Everyone Else or A Sister Like You.
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LGBTQ+ book recommendations and follow-up ideas for action to take away.
Length
30-45 minutes
"Sarah's visit was a joy!
She led four sessions: two full year group talks with Years 7 and 8, a creative writing session and a PSHE session with Year 9.
The pupils loved the interactive sessions and having their books signed at the end."
Elizabeth Bratt, school librarian
Author Q&A
Audience
Years 3-8 (KS2 and KS3).
Content
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Short intro and reading from any of my books.
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Open Q&A on writing, reading, the issues raised in my books, or anything you like!
Length
30 minutes
Workplace staff networks
Audience
LGBTQ+ and/or parents and carers and/or faith workplace networks.
Content
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Intro and my personal and author journey.
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(Depending on focus of networks) reading and discussion based on Living It Out, Pride & Joy, or any of the fiction titles.
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Open Q&A.
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Signposting and reading recommendations.
Length
45-60 minutes
“We were lucky enough to have Sarah talk with our employees about the importance of representation as part of our Pride week celebration. Sarah was so engaging, flexible and approachable.
She provided lots of useful book recommendations and answered all our on-the-spot questions.”
Emma Allen, Diversity and Inclusion lead
Creative writing workshop
Audience
Years 6-8 (upper KS2 and lower KS3). Maximum group size: 30 students.
Content
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Quickfire writing exercises to build confidence, have fun and come up with new ideas.
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Focus on creating suspense, tension and mystery.
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Opportunity for students to develop and share individual short pieces of writing, with feedback and encouragement from me and from the group.
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Open Q&A.
Length
Half day (2 x 60 minute sessions) but could also be run as a whole off-timetable day activity, or a shorter version over one hour.
Time-travelling workshop
Audience
Years 3-4. Ideal for an assembly or a classroom session.
Content
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Readings from Hideaway Hotel books.
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Fun, creative, imaginative activities based on time travel and local history.
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The Hideaway Hotel books link to dinosaurs, sport, diverse families and World War Two, depending on your interest, one of these themes can be explored in more detail.
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My author journey and Q&A.
Length
45-60 minutes
“Sarah's session was informative, well paced and really inspiring. It was great to hear about how all of our families are unique and seeing a diverse range of characters is so important within books!
"The young people came up with lots of brilliant questions at the end of the talk.”
Elizabeth McDonald, Librarian
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An author visit is great for LGBTQ+ HIstory Month (February), World Book Day (March), Pride Month (June) or Empathy Day (June), but also for any time of year!
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If you are planning an author visit, why not get together with another local school and share travel costs?
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All hour-long sessions for schools cost £100 (virtual) or £150 plus travel expenses from London (in-person).
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All 30-minute sessions for schools cost £50 (virtual or in-person). However, these shorter sessions are only available in-person if you also book at least one hour-long session.
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A whole day for schools (up to the equivalent of four hour-long sessions) is £450 plus travel expenses from London.
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A half-day for schools (up to the equivalent of two hour-long sessions) is £275 plus travel expenses from London.
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For workplaces, churches, festivals or other organisations, contact me to discuss the fee.
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I’m always happy to sign books. If you don’t already have a link with a local bookshop, your local Usborne partner should be happy to help you to get hold of books for students to pre-order or to sell on the day.