BarryHutchison

As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I’ve been down in Newcastle attending the Reading Partners Roadshow. It was an epic journey to get there and back, but the event itself was great fun, and I got to talk endlessly about Invisible Fiends to lots of lovely librarians.

What was most exciting for me was just being there in a room filled with so many people who were so excited about children’s literature. There were other authors and publishers there, but it was the librarians themselves who seemed to be the most passionate of all. The things they are doing to encourage children to read are brilliantly inventive, and it was a real pleasure to meet and listen to all of them. Even better, lots of potential opportunities came up for me to work with all of them in the future, and I can’t wait to get started.

The venue itself – Newcastle City Library – was stunning, although it isn’t the easiest place in the world to navigate. While searching for the room the event was being held in, I accidentally stumbled into not one, but two Victim Support Group meetings. I’m not sure what they were victims of, but they were victims of something, and I’m sure I didn’t help matters any by barging into their meetings without any word of warning. Still, we all had a laugh about it in the end. When the screaming had stopped.

I didn’t get a chance to get many photos of the trip, but I think I managed to grab a few on my phone. I’ll check through tonight and post what I have tomorrow. For now, though, I’m off to get some work done.