School Events

Gods and Monsters: Stories and Poems from Mythology

I love mythology! I speak to audiences of Y4 - Y7 about the ways in which mythology pops up everywhere from brand names to days of the week. We look at cosmic turtles, the Norse gods and The Odyssey, with story telling and poems - although I can tailor to your studies if you’d like to focus on one area of mythology eg Greek myths.

We close with the interactive and very popular World Cup of Mythological Monsters, in which the children decide the victor of several rounds of imaginary monster fights. This is a fun way to learn about the origins and evolution of legends around dragons, yetis, gorgons, the sphinx, the minotaur, the bunyip and more.

Please get in touch for bookings and fees (which include a signed copy of Gods and Monsters for your school library). You can email me here.

Wonder: The Natural History Poetry Book (for Primary Schools)

In this interactive talk for Primary School pupils which can be tailored to your time and age-group requirements, I read poems about the solar system, whales and dinosaurs and talk about how the poets use language and imagery to help us look at the natural world in a new and exciting ways.

Questions to be considered as a group will include: what planets might taste of, how it might feel to meet a Kronosaurus while swimming and whether or not we’d like to be a whale. Audience participation is encouraged as we think of descriptive words and respond to the poems together.

Find more details about these events in my blog Poetry to inspire future planet champions.

Please get in touch for bookings and fees (which include a signed copy of Wonder for your school library). You can email me here.

“The lesson was really great. Poems and content were pitched perfectly for Year 3. They really enjoyed the subject matter too - can't go wrong with space or animals/dinosaurs!”

— Darren Gardiner, Y3 form teacher, West Ashtead School

The Hidden History of Women’s Writing (11+ / adult)

My illustrated talk can be tailored to your time slot, age range (11+ / adult) and audience. It looks at the reasons why more women didn’t write, publish or make it into the ‘greatest hits’ of English Literature in previous centuries, and tells little-known stories of amazing women who bucked this trend. I can also deliver the talk online.

"Thank you very much for coming to Wycombe High School yesterday and for giving such an interesting talk to our Year 7s. They really engaged with what you were saying as demonstrated by the number and quality of the questions they asked you at the end. "

— Sally Blackburne, Librarian, Wycombe High School

I close with the good news that we can all contribute to building a broader canon for the future, and include poetry readings during the talk. I am always delighted to take questions and lead related discussions.

This talk is based on the research for my anthologies of women’s poetry She is Fierce and She Will Soar.

Please get in touch for bookings and fees (which include a signed copy of She is Fierce and She Will Soar for your school library.) You can email me here.

Working in Publishing

I have worked as a publicist in trade publishing for over twenty years, and am currently Campaigns Director (part-time) at Quercus Books. I can talk to secondary school groups about careers in Publishing, explaining what the different departments such as Editorial, Marketing, Sales, Foreign Rights and Production do and what skills are desirable in each. I have been involved in hiring publicists at all levels for over a decade so am well placed to advise school leavers on next steps. I can also talk specifically about Public Relations as a career.

I love my job, and I’ve done a lot of fun and unusual things in the course of it, including carrying slowly defrosting grouse carcasses to Crewe for a cookery feature, dressing my colleagues up as corpses, being filmed for The One Show reading my teenage diary, toasting pine nuts in John Lewis, accompanying authors including Sir Roger Moore to television and radio interviews, analysing people’s doodles and hiding meerkat toys around London. So I have lots of stories to tell as well as industry insights to share!