I was recently given the opportunity to record myself reading one of the Aweh! readers I’d written for Oxford University Press SA. This was as part of their Road to Literacy campaign for 2025. The Road to Literacy campaign, in collaboration with AVBOB, is an amazing initiative that aims to improve the literacy and numeracy…
Writing Educational Readers for the Foundation Phase is a little different to writing picture books. Here are my top 10 tips from more than 10 years of writing them. 1 Stick to the brief Why am I telling you something that seems so gob-smackingly obvious? Well, it’s because some authors don’t! One work I came…
These wise words from the great Albert Einstein resonate strongly with me as a writer of children’s books. Another great proponent of simplicity was Leonardo da Vinci, who famously said: “Simplicity is the art of sophistication.” So why then do we often overlook the simple in favour of the complex? Do we believe that writing…
Writing non-fiction can be extremely creative and rewarding (as I’ve recently found out). It’s great fun to research and delve deeply into a topic and then to find the most interesting way to share the information you’ve uncovered. Here are some tips I wanted to share with you if you’re thinking of writing a non-fiction…
It can be quite daunting to write your first artbrief for a reader or picture book that you’ve written (assuming you’re not the illustrator, of course). Truth is, it may feel more than a little uncomfortable having to tell a creative illustrator/artist how you want them to draw, see or interpret the words and…
Louise’s top 10 tips for a successful presentation at a school assembly: Always visit the school prior to the day of your presentation to check what facilities are available and to practise in the venue. Assembly halls can be either too light or too dark and your presentation slides may not be visible to the…