Martyn Bedford - Writer

A busy November continues with a trip down south this week for the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature 2015. The festival, in its eighth year, is a week-long celebration of reading, writing and creativity, run by librarians from the town’s 11 secondary schools and including many leading names from children’s and teenage fiction.

On Tuesday, I’ll be spending the day at the Commonweal School, in Old Town, giving two talks and readings – to the whole of Year 8 and Year 9 (nearly 500 students in total!) – and running a creative-writing workshop for a group of Year 9s. I’ll also be signing copies of my two YA novels, Flip and Never Ending, and having lunch with English teachers and librarians.

Other guest authors and illustrators at this year’s festival include Phillip Reeve, Sam Angus, Elen Caldecott, Phil Earle, Anthony McGowan, Alexander Gordon Smith, Virginia Bergin, Fred Blunt, Cliff McNish, Joffre White and Steve Cole, the new writer of the Young Bond series. As well as author events, the programme – which runs from November 6th to 13th – includes quizzes, writing and illustration competitions and other creative and interactive activities at the participating schools.