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As part of the promotion work for my books, I often do visits to schools, libraries and other venues. These can take different forms, but they normally fall into one of three categories; storytelling and drawing, workshops or talks.
Storytelling and Drawing
More often aimed at younger kids, this normally involves a forty-five minute to an hour's session where I will read the Mad Grandad books, using an easel and display pages so that the kids can see the illustrations. For practical reasons, I prefer to limit the numbers of children in any storytelling session to under fifty. And I find that the classroom environment is better than a large hall, for both atmosphere and interaction. I normally finish the session with a drawing. For older kids, I can do a mix of things depending on their age, and reading level. This can include reading one of my longer stories, or extracts from the novels, and discussing writing and illustration, as well as anything from the usual session format.
Workshops
Where there is more time available, for instance if I'm doing an author/illustrator in residence, then there is a lot more I can do. A good example of this was the residence I did in St. Mary's School for Boys in Dublin.
Over eight weeks, we covered the basics of composing, writing and illustrating stories, and by the end of it, had produced a collection of short stories, all fully illustrated, which were displayed in the Central Library in the Ilac Centre in Dublin. The lads created some excellent stories, and each pupil was also presented with a certificate. Click here to see how the classes were run.
If you're arranging a visit for a children's session here are a few tips to help you get the most out of it.
Public Speaking/Talks
I am sometimes asked to give talks, interviews or take part in panels speaking to larger audiences in universities, colleges, at conferences or in the media. These are much more open in format and the audience and situation tends to dictate the presentation and the subject matter covered.
To arrange a visit, residency, interview or talk please contact:
Ruth Heneghan
Marketing and Events Manager
O'Brien Press,
12 Terenure Road East,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
Tel: 01 492 3333
Fax: 01 497 2777
Email: ruth@obrien.ie
To arrange an event in Britain or for marketing and P.R. inquiries relating to Oisin's books from Random House, please contact:
Lauren Bennett,
Random House Children's Books,
61-63 Uxbridge Road,
London W5 5SA.
Tel: 00 44 20 8231 6740
Fax: 00 44 20 82316737
Email: ndouglas@randomhouse.co.uk or lbennett@randomhouse.co.uk
www.randomhouse.co.uk
