Dear Headteacher / Literacy Co-ordinator / Head of English / Librarian,

Would you like a leading children's non-fiction author to visit your school?

The children's non-fiction authors named below are experienced school visitors, offering talks, readings and workshops for KS1, KS2, and KS3. You may not recognise us by name, but you almost certainly use our books in school.

A non-fiction author visit is very different from that of a fiction writer or poet, providing opportunities for a range of lessons, not only in literacy and more obvious subject areas such as history and geography, but in D&T (designing book covers), ICT (researching information on the Internet), PSHCE and Citizenship (teamwork, negotiation and co-operative learning).

To find out more about an author, their events and costs, and to make a booking, please contact the author directly. Most of the authors have websites giving full information about themselves and the school visits they make.

Each author has indicated where they live and which regions are most convenient for them to visit. We are aware that not every area of the UK is specifically mentioned. This does not mean that an author will not visit you - please contact an author to see what can be arranged.

We hope you'll find this contact list of interest, and look forward to hearing from you.

John Malam
(on behalf of the authors named here)

PS:
Book now for end of year events, and for Children's Book Week: 5th - 9th October 2009

Writes: Children's non-fiction

Books include: KS2 How Our Bodies Work series; Keeping Healthy series; Exploring the Human Body series; How Does Science Work series. KS3 Food Choices series; Chain Reactions series; Cutting Edge Medicine series

School visits for KS2 and KS3: Non-fiction reading - different ways information is presented; fact vs. opinion; making notes; using index, contents pages; study skills. Non-fiction writing - talk and workshop about how to select, organise and present information; children use ideas from the talk to prepare individual pieces of non-fiction writing. Making a Book - workshop - children work in groups to create a non-fiction book. How a Book is made - brief talk followed by Q and A session

Tel: 01729 830885 (Airton, North Yorkshire)

Email: carolballard@supanet.com

Website: www.carolballard.co.uk

Will visit: Most of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire

Writes: Children's non-fiction photographer (Howard) and author (Cath)

Books include: Howard (photographer) - photography for 22 children's books including A School Like Mine (DK); Wake Up, World! (Lincoln). Cath (author) around 80 children's educational books, mostly on history, religions and global issues including Famous Lives: Anne Frank (Hodder Wayland); Talking about My Faith series (Watts); Why are People Refugees? (Hodder Wayland). Working together we have published books in the Moving to Britain series (Watts) and Letters from Around the World series (Evans) including titles on the USA, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Ireland.

School visits: Howard and Cath offer joint workshops. For both of us on the same day, pay for one of us full price, get the other half price! Cath can also run non-fiction book workshops alone. You can book Howard alone to lead workshops on refugee and asylum issues. Sessions include: Interactive workshop for Y2-Y6. Through group activities, children will discover all the aspects of creating a non-fiction book, including deciding the contents, writing the text and selecting the photographs. (45 to 90 mins). Make your own non-fiction book (half day).

Tel: 01273 208741 (Brighton)

Email: pics@eye-camera.com

Website: www.eye-camera.com

Will visit: Brighton and Hove, Sussex, London

Photographer/author: Children's non-fiction

Books include: How to Make a Book, Living In... series (Watts); Global Cities series, People Who Help Us series (Evans); Helping Hands series (Wayland); Reading Roundabout series (Watts); Look Around You series (Wayland). Over 800 titles written or contributed to.

School visits: Talk in the form of instant question and answer format that takes children all around the world on a journey seeking out the materials and the people that are needed to actually make a book. Time permitting, I finish with stories and questions about my travels to any one of the 60 countries that I have visited over the past 30 years. Allow 60 to 90 minutes per session. Suitable for upper KS1 and KS2.

Tel: 01428 713090 / 07768 735771 (near Petersfield, Hampshire)

Email: chris@chrisfairclough.co.uk

Website: www.chrisfairclough.co.uk

Will visit: All UK, including Northern Ireland

Writes and illustrates: Children's fiction and non-fiction, adult non-fiction

Books include: Art in History: Prehistoric, Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Tudor and Victorian; Biographies: Leonardo, Monet, Picasso; Medieval history, ancient history, the Forbidden City; Israel; How to Draw and Paint; Art Attack; Design and Make puppets, picture frames and masks; creative crafts; animals; Extreme Science: Celebrity Snappers and Toxic! Plus Latin and Ballroom Dance.

School visits: National Curriculum-linked Creative Workshops for KS1, 2 and 3; Communicating through Work Journals and sketchbooks for GCSE, AS and A2 (am happy to adapt these to fit in with ongoing school projects).

Tel: 01702 344117 (Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex)

Email: susiehodge@hotmail.com

Website: www.susiehodge.co.uk

Will visit: Essex, London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Suffolk, Norfolk

Writes: Children's fiction, young adult fiction, and non-fiction

Books include: The World of French (Letts), Einfach Lesen, Kaffee und Kuchen, The Lombardy Grotto (9-11), Nick's Gallery (14+ Fiction but good for discussion in Citizenship). Gill is very keen at the moment to pilot some lessons from her new book Creative Language Learning (Continuum).

School visits: Creative writing workshops in French, German, and Spanish; build a book in a day workshop; talks about fiction, non-fiction, the publishing process, and short cuts to language learning.

Tel: 0161 723 0444 / 0161 295 6792 (Manchester)

Email: gill.james@btinternet.com

Website: www.gilljames.co.uk

Will visit: All UK

Writes: Children's non-fiction
(a National Literacy Trust Reading Champion)

Books include: KS1 Biographies: Florence Nightingale, Queen Elizabeth II, Vincent van Gogh, and others; KS2 popular histories: You Wouldn't Want to be a Victorian Schoolchild, You Wouldn't Want to be a Roman Gladiator, You Wouldn't Want to be a Sailor in the Spanish Armada, You Wouldn't Want to be a Worker in a Victorian Mill; KS2/KS3 narrative non-fiction: Titanic - Shipwrecks and Sunken Treasure, The Battle of Hastings, The Gunpowder Plot, First Man on the Moon, and many more.

School visits: Fiction reading for R; biography reading for Y1-Y2; talks for Y3-Y9 on 'The Journey of a Non-Fiction Book'; hands-on role-play workshop for Y5-Y9 where children work in teams to create their own non-fiction books (focus on co-operative learning and teamwork).

Tel: 01606 863540 (Winsford, Cheshire)

Email: johnmalam@onetel.net

Website (with bookings diary and map): www.johnmalam.co.uk

Will visit: North-West (Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside); Midlands (Derbyshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands); West Yorkshire, North Wales, and will consider other areas

Write: Children's non-fiction, fiction and poetry

Books include: Dinosaur World, Blue Planet - Ocean World (BBC); The Boffin Boy series by David (Ransom) and the Siti's Sisters series by Helen (Ransom). Around 300 titles between us.

School visits: Poetry and fiction writing workshops (David) and non-fiction writing workshops (Helen). For both of us on the same day, buy one author, get the other half price!

Tel: 01962 712062 (Winchester, Hampshire)

Email: mail@davidorme.co.uk

Website: www.magic-nation.com

Will visit: Most visits are in Central Southern England, but visits further afield will be considered

Writes: Non-fiction, mainly sciences including life sciences and technology

Books include: Planet Ape with co-author Desmond Morris (Mitchell Beazley); Robots 8-title series (Watts/Creative); Changes In and Planet Earth (QED) 4-title 'green' and habitat series for mid-KS2; Children's Cool Technology Encyclopedia (Parragon); The Encyclopedia of Sharks (A&C Black); Building Wembley (OUP); Ultimate CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (DK); Extreme Dinosaurs (Smithsonian/HarperCollins); Machines Rule! (Hachette) 8-title series on big machines and vehicles; 100 Things You Should Know About ... T Rex, Fossils, Sharks, Whales and other titles (Miles Kelly); The Human Body Book (DK); Eyewitness Skeleton, Electricity plus about 20 other Eyewitness titles (DK). More than 250 titles as author, editor or contributor.

School visits: Interactive workshops on science and technology, from dinosaurs to the future of conservation, human body, machines, space, etc. weaving in book or website production skills from first idea to finished product.

Tel: 01379 678991 (Diss, Norfolk)

Email: steve@steveparker.co.uk

Website: www.steveparker.co.uk

Will visit: All of UK

Writes: Children's fiction and non-fiction, mostly history-based

Books include: Pirates, Plants and Plunder, Greed, Seeds and Slavery (both Random House); Coming Alive!, Start Up History and Flashbacks series (all Evans Brothers); Survivors series (Hodder); Tales of the Dead series (Dorling Kindersley), etc.

School visits: Lively talks and interactive workshops to any requirement, any number, any age, including INSET. A term's notice much appreciated.

Tel: 01227 784617 (Canterbury, Kent) - initial contact by email preferred

Email: words@stewartross.net

Website: www.stewartross.net

Will visit: Anywhere south of, say, Preston (Lancs) but will go further if several schools are able to co-ordinate visits

Writes: Children's non-fiction science

Books include: Eco Action (a series about climate change and new technology); My Amazing Body series; Living in Space; My World of Science series; Material Detectives (all Heinemann); Hurricanes and Tornadoes (QED); Eye Openers (Dorling Kindersley); Your Body Inside and Out (Hachette), and many more. CD-ROMS: Extreme Weather, Extreme Habitats, Space Probe and Ice Bricks & Straw Roofs.

School visits: Talks and workshop on how books are created; creative science-writing workshops - different topics for Y2-Y6, including materials used in printing a book, friction, living in space with no gravity, desert habitat, and global warming.

Tel: 0207 263 8600 (London, N7)

Email: angela@roystonmail.co.uk

Website: www.angelaroyston.com

Will visit: London and places easily accessible from London; will consider further afield

Writes: Children's non-fiction

Books include: Wild Predators series, Why Science Matters series (KS2/3); Your Body Inside Out (KS2); Energy for the Future series (KS2); World of Music and World of Dance (KS2); Rome (ill. Stephen Beisty); titles in Oxford Reds and Fireflies series (OUP early readers).

School visits: Interactive talks/workshops for KS2/KS3 on writing and creating non-fiction books. Examples of topics that can be covered include 'The Science of Making Bread', 'How Scientists Make Discoveries', 'You are Home to a Billion Bugs', 'Can we Produce no Carbon for a Day?' and 'Dance Pioneers'.

Tel: 01981 570663 (Hereford) - initial contact by email preferred

Email: solwaya@yahoo.co.uk

Will visit: Wales, West Midlands, West Country

Writes: Children's non-fiction and fiction

Books include: Adventures in Literacy (24 titles about writing fiction and non-fiction for Y1-Y4); Adventures in Art (KS2); Reusing and Recycling (KS2); A Victorian Childhood at School, Work, Home and Play (KS2).

School visits: 'Storywriting Secrets and Surprises' - improving writing and telling stories (KS1 and 2); 'Ready, Steady, Recycle' - an exploration of materials with object handling (KS1 and 2); 'Exploring Greek Myths' through art and drama; 'Vivid Views of Victorian Children' using original Victorian photographs, games and artefacts to bring the period to life (KS2).

Tel: 0207 607 4623 (London, N1)

Email: ruththom@hotmail.com

Website: www.knowtrash.com

Will visit: All UK, including Northern Ireland

Writes: Children's non-fiction and fiction
(a National Literacy Trust Reading Champion)

Books include: Painful History of Medicine / Childhood / Crime / Science (series); the story 'Deadline' has been selected by the Schools Library Association for Boys Into Books

School visits: Talks/workshops for KS2/KS3 on story-writing or strange but true stories. Presentations feature 'Yucky Yarns to Make You Squirm' or the 'Weird, Wacky and Wonderful'. Pupils can choose from 'No Snoring in The Library', 'Don't Have Nightmares" or 'You Won't Believe This But...' about books on crime, mysteries, incredible creatures and more.

Tel: 01886 884397 (Worcestershire)

Email: john.towns@lineone.net

Website: www.contactanauthor.co.uk

Will visit: Midlands, south central, East Anglia (sometimes)