Matt Brown is the author of seven books for young people, each based on his lifelong love of science fiction. His first book, Compton Valance (Usborne, 2014), is a story about a boy who accidentally creates a time-machine out of a sandwich. This year will see the publication of Kevin the Vampire, published by Nosy Crow, a new series for kids about a carnival run by monsters. Last year, along with Eloise Williams, Matt created and edited The Mab (Unbound, 2022), a retelling of the Mabinogi for children. Matt has presented on some of the UKs most popular TV shows including Nickelodeon, The Big Breakfast and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! Although, he would readily admit that he has presented some of the UKs worst-ever shows too! www.mattbrownwriter.com
How to Write for Young People
Young people can be the most difficult readers to engage, but their approval can also be the most rewarding. This course will explore how to write spellbinding fiction for children and young people to capture and encourage their imagination. Group workshops, tasks, and one-to-one tutorials will teach you how to form compelling and believable characters, those all-important role models that will accompany your young readers throughout the book’s journey – and possibly throughout their lives. Drawing from legends, myths and fairy tales, including the Mabinogi, the tutors will also help you to create magical worlds as settings to your stories. Sharing tricks about how to write well for your target audience, the tutors will help you build techniques you can use to continue to develop your own extraordinary stories after the course ends.
This course is suitable for writers, both emerging and more experienced, interested mainly in developing work for readers aged 7+.
Tutors
Matt Brown
Eloise Williams
Eloise Williams is the author of six books for young readers, five published by Firefly Press, Elen’s Island (2015), Gaslight (2017), Seaglass (2018), Wilde (2020) and Honesty & Lies (2022), and The Tide Singer published by Barrington Stoke (2022). 2023 will see the publication of The Curio Collectors, again with Barrington Stoke. In 2022, along with Matt Brown, Eloise created and edited The Mab (Unbound, 2022), a retelling of the Mabinogi for children. Eloise was the inaugural Children’s Laureate Wales 2019-2021. She has worked with thousands of young people across Wales and beyond for more than twenty years running creative writing, drama and storytelling workshops. www.eloisewilliams.com
Guest Reader
Catherine Johnson
Catherine Johnson is an award-winning author for children and young adults. She has twice been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and Freedom (Scholastic, 2018) - an action-packed story about a boy’s experience of slavery in Britain – won her the Little Rebel’s Award 2019 and has been nominated for the IBBY Honour List 2020. Other books include Race to the Frozen North (Barrington Stoke, 2018) and Sawbones (Walker Books, 2013). Catherine also writes for film, television, and radio. Her TV work includes the adaption of Simon Schama’s Rough Crossings for TV, and Holby City and she is currently working on an adaptation of Miranda Kaufmann's Black Tudors for Silverprint Pictures. www.catherinejohnson.co.uk