Awesome Author Visits!

STOP PRESS: Are you thinking of booking me for an author visit in 2010?

Download my NEW Author Events eBook, which tells you everything you need to know about my school and library visits – from organising the day to how to get my books for your pupils on sale or return, with free delivery!

Click here to download your copy!

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Hello and welcome to the information to read before a visit from children’s author, Tommy Donbavand. You’re reading this page because you’ve either booked a visit by Tommy to your school; you’re thinking of booking Tommy for an event; or you’re such an outright fan that you’ll read just about anything with his name on the front. Actually, that last one’s a bit odd – so lets hope it’s not that.

On this page (and in my downloadable Author Events eBook), I’ll tell you exactly how you can make the visit run as smoothly as possible – for your pupils, your staff and for me, too. I’ll also include details of some of the worst events I’ve been booked to run and explain exactly what went wrong – although I’ll be sure to change the names of those involved to protect the innocent…

So, click ‘print’, boil the kettle (mine’s a tea, no sugar) and let’s prepare for a day your pupils will never forget…

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BIOG:

Tommy Donbavand was born in Liverpool, but doesn’t know any of The Beatles. When he was 11, his parents moved to Lancashire and, because they didn’t trust him to forward the post, he had to go with them.

After an early career as a clown called Wobblebottom (no, really!), he joined the cast of the West End musical, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story where he played the Clearlake MC for a total of eight years, including stints on the UK tour and in Toronto, Canada.

Tommy then moved into the world of theatre production, where he wrote, directed and appeared in theatre tours such as Robinson Crusoe, Hey Diddle Diddle and Goldilocks & The Three Bears.

As an author, Tommy’s new series of comedy horror novels, Scream Street, is published by Walker Books in the UK, Candlewick Press in the USA and major foreign publishers in many territories around the world. He also wrote five titles in the Too Ghoul For School series, published by Egmont Press under their 2Heads imprint.

He has recently written two books for specialist publisher, Barrington Stoke: Zombie!, published late 2009 and The Uniform, scheduled for release in 2010 – and his book of drama activities for teachers, Making a Drama Out of a Crisis (Network Continuum) was published in April 2009.

The activities in Tommy’s non-fiction books such as Boredom Busters helped him to become a regular guest on radio stations around the UK. He also appeared several times on BBC Radio 2’s Steve Wright In The Afternoon as the kids entertainment guy.

Tommy also writes for a number of magazines, such as the Times Educational Supplement, Practical Professional Child Care, Creative Steps and Scholastic’s Junior Education. He was also one of the writers for the hit CBBC series, Planet Cook and pens tales from the island of Sodor for Thomas & Friends magazine.

In addition to his writing and acting, Tommy also runs creative writing workshops in primary schools across the north of England, teaches writing to adults in the and organises storytelling courses for SureStart.

Tommy spent a year as the writer-in-residence at Seven Stories, the centre for children’s books in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and is very proud to have recently been made the UK’s first RIF Ambassador by Reading Is Fundamental (part of the National Literacy Trust), attached to a primary school in Middlesbrough.

Tommy writes full-time and lives in Lancashire with his family. He has started to see sleep as a waste of good writing time.

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MY EVENTS:

When you book me for a day’s visit to your school, you book me for three, one-hour sessions – plus a book signing, however long that takes.

The one-hour sessions can be creative writing workshops, where I can work with up to 60 pupils at a time, or my exciting and anarchic Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show, which promotes the fun of reading in an action-packed, interactive manner. Details of both sessions follow.

Please don’t take it upon yourself to split the day up into tiny chunks so that I get to work with everyone (“You’re with year 4 for 15 minutes until break, then ten minutes with year 6 – and can you squeeze in a quick story telling session with reception?”) If I can’t get round everyone in school in a single day, you’ll have to decide which pupils you’d like me to work with (remember – you can combine classes up a maximum of 60 pupils), or book me for a second day.

Pupils simply don’t get a lot out of sessions much shorter than one-hour; I can’t teach them anything about creative writing in 20 minutes. But that doesn’t mean I’d like you to give me a single class for the entire morning, either (it’s been done, and it simply doesn’t work!) My one-hour sessions have been fine-tuned so that pupils are excited by the content, but their attentions don’t start to wander.

The Write Stuff (one-hour, up to 60 pupils per session but better with 30)

Even scarier than the vampires and werewolves in my books is the prospect of facing a blank piece of paper when charged with the task of writing a short story – but I can easily rid your pupils of that fear, freeing their imaginations up and allowing them to invent tales packed with incredible settings, three-dimensional characters and non-stop action.

In The Write Stuff workshop, I take your pupils through the creation of the writers’ most valuable tool – the story plan. With my help, students will:

* Come up with a unique setting and learn how to describe it using all five senses
* Invent rounded, personable characters that readers will want to root for
* Devise a fast-paced plot through a simple, three-step exercise
* Build the story action towards an explosive climax – perhaps with a twist at the end

By the time they’ve finished their plans, your pupils will have everything they need to write the ultimate short story – they’ll never be stuck again! The great thing is – once your pupils have learned how to create a plan for their tales, they can use the system again and again – in fact, every time they sit down to write!

Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show (one-hour, the entire school, although very young pupils can be scared by the noise as there is a lot of shouting and cheering involved)

Based around the relics in my Scream Street books, the Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show is fast-paced, action-packed and interactive. I split the audience into two teams and play a series of games guaranteed to get them excited about reading!

It’s a noisy session – but is always loved by both pupils and staff alike!

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FEEDBACK:

If you’re still wondering whether you should make that booking, here’s what some of the teachers and pupils I’ve already worked with have had to say:

The workshop was a fantastic way to inspire the children’s story writing. It was invaluable for the children to see the processes a real author uses to create stories. We all had great fun!
Mrs Holland, West End First School

I enjoyed the lesson, so I am sending you a thank you letter. Your teaching was great. I really enjoyed learning how to write stories.
Aaron, West End First School

Tommy worked with my year six class of 34 mixed ability children on a writing project in connection with Seven Stories. Before the project, my class were, on the whole, fairly positive about writing, although some were less than enthusiastic. After the project however, they were ALL really enthusiastic about writing and saw themselves as authors in their own right! Tommy managed to fire up their imaginations and created genuine enthusiasm. His interaction with the children was excellent, holding them in the palm of his hand during the workshops, and culminating in a final celebration of the whole project.
Barbara Brown, St Matthew’s School, South Tyneside

You are mint! I saw you today at my school Meadowdale Middle school and I really cant wait to read your books!
Lauren, Meadowdale Middle School

Thank YOU! I have had so much positive feedback about you from parents and from staff – you really did connect with the children and really helped to make the day something special. We really look forward to seeing you in October!
Clive Bulmer, Sunderland High School Juniors

I’m Bronte, I was in the audience today at Oxford. I really enjoyed meeting you and I really would like to read your books now. I hope to be a writer one day like you. I am 8. I can’t wait for your other books to come out in July. Its really exciting.
Bronte, Oxford Literary Festival

You came into our school earlier this term and what an impact you made on my students! My group of 11 EBD students were captivated by your enthusiastic and funny approach to reading and writing. They were even more impressed that the actual author was standing in front of them! The way you involved the students was fantastic and their attention was held for probably the longest I have seen for a while. Some students, who previously didn’t read much outside school, have been enthralled by the Scream Street series of books. So much so that we bought the remaining three books for each of the children in class as a Christmas present. They now can’t wait for the next Scream Street installment!
Austin Fry, North Liverpool Academy