An Inspiring School Visit - King Henry VIII School, Coventry

I've now done several author visits to King Henry VIII School, Coventry and I always have a great time there. Last week I spoke to a big group of Year 7s - a wonderful, enthusiastic crowd, many of whom clearly love books and reading. They had lots of well-thought out questions for me, which really made me think. But let me hand over the story of the visit to one of the Year 7s, Onyeari Egbuji, who has done a lovely write-up of my visit.

In Onyeari's words:

ROSALIE WARREN’S VISIT

On Wednesday 8^th May, Rosalie Warren, a local author, visited our school. She did numerous talks to pupils in Year 7, while advertising her latest book: ‘Coping with Chloe’. She told us what it was like to really be an author and how hard it is to have a book published. We learnt about the stress, emotion, frustration and happiness that goes in to writing a book, which includes writing a book, finding a publisher, editing, choosing a cover and actually having it sold in shops. She told us how she was inspired to write ‘Coping with Chloe’ and how she came across the idea of using twins

   She read us a chapter of her amazing book, ‘Coping with Chloe’, making almost everyone want to know what happened next. Then she said whoever came up with the best question would win a free book. We were all trying to think of a great question to ask her. She answered questions such as, ‘What is your favourite book?’ and ’What is your favourite library?’ I asked her, “Out of all the books you have ever written, which one has been the emotional and the hardest to write because it was personal to you?” She said that she cried a few times while writing ‘Coping with Chloe’. We had a lot of fun listening to her answers. Luckily I was the winner, and won a free book. I can’t wait to read it…   

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Thank you so much, Onyeari. Your question was a very good one and deserved to win the prize. It really made me think.

Here's a photo of Onyeari and me, with her prize:

 And here's a picture of me with some of the Year 7s:

Thank you all for making me so welcome and to librarian Mrs Kirsty Kinmond for organising my visit. Good luck, all of you, with your reading, writing and everything else. And to all you budding young authors - keep at it!


Best wishes,
Ros

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Coping with Chloe in Clapton! An Amazing Afternoon With Some of my Readers

 I had a wonderful experience recently when I visited Clapton Girls' Academy in London to meet some of my readers and talk about my book Coping with Chloe and the possible sequel.

The girls of 7C and their teacher Miss Feltham gave me a wonderful welcome and were so kind in the things they said about Coping with Chloe. I felt a bit like a celebrity for an afternoon! The girls had all read the book as part of Pop-Up Booklinks, which  is a brilliant project that provides classes with a copy of the book for each student to read and then arranges a visit from the author. This was great as it meant the girls had all read my book and given it lots of thought. They asked me some very good questions, which I did my best to answer. I then read them the first chapter of the sequel and they gave me some useful feedback.

 But the best bit for me was when they showed me the work they had done on Coping with Chloe. Each girl had written a review and the teacher had bound these together in a book with a beautiful cover, for me to take home. The reviews inside were really well written and very good for my morale! The best thing in the world for an author is when you discover that someone has not only enjoyed but 'connected with' your book - it has affected them and made them think. I was overwhelmed to read all these reviews and I will treasure the book always. One of the reviews was even published in the Guardian.

The students had done lots of other things too - including writing some brilliant alternative endings to Chloe and performing two short plays - one of which was my favourite scene from the book (Anna and her Dad going out to lunch and failing to communciate about Chloe). The class could not have known beforehand that it was my favourite scene - so that was a wonderful surprise.

They had also made models, puppets, posters, a powerpoint presentation and lots more. I took home with me all the things I could carry in my bag, but I could not bring everything as I had to get two buses across London to my son's flat and then a train home!

I would really like to thank the Booklinks Project, my publishers Phoenix Yard Books, Miss Feltham and the other members of staff at Clapton Girls' Academy - and especially the wonderful and brilliant girls of 7C for working so hard and giving me such a lovely warm welcome to their class. They are all very intelligent, capable and enthusiastic and I am sure they will go a long way in life. Those who want to be writers - I would say go for it! Don't let anything stop you. But don't rely on writing to earn you a living because however good you are, it probably won't. In the end, the best reason for writing is because you want to (or feel you have to!) do it. But meeting your readers is a truly wonderful experience and I will never forget my visit to your school.

Very best wishes and good luck to all of you
Rosalie xx


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Hospital Radio is Great!

 I remember, way, way back, being in hospital after a road accident with an injured leg. All that I could find to listen to on the hospital radio set were the results of the General Election (I'm not telling you which year!) as they came in. These days, I might find that more interesting, but back then, in my teens, I couldn't care less about politics. But (for those of you who remember Margaret Thatcher), there was no alternative...

My mother used to tell me how, the day after I was born, she tried to listen to the radio and - same thing - all that was on were General Election results. Probably not ideal when you've just spent (according to her) a million hours in labour and need a bit of light relief.

So how fabulous that nowadays so many hospitals have their own radio stations to entertain the patients. Coventry Hospital Radio is having its 40th anniversary this year... and all sorts of celebrations are afoot. I had the privilege, on Saturday morning, to go into their studio, up on the 5th floor of Coventry University Hospital in Walsgrave, Coventry, and chat with the brilliant prizewinning host and DJ, Neil Wilkes, about books, libraries, writing, e-publishing and all sorts of other things.

I enjoyed it so much I almost forgot I was being interviewed for radio. I was worried I had waffled a bit, but Neil kindly assured me that I didn't. I mentioned the new e-version of Charity's Child and the joys (and challenges) of e-publishing. We talked about how sad it is that so many local libraries are closing, and how we all need to support them more. And I mentioned my new project of turning Coping with Chloe into a play.

So thank you, Neil, for having me on your Saturday morning show.  It was great fun and well worth getting up early for.

You can read more about Coventry Hospital Radio on the Facebook page here. Please 'like' and share with your friends.

Best wishes,
Ros

A Very Warm Welcome - my visit to King Henry VIII School, Coventry, for World Book Day

Just over a week ago I visited an amazing and wonderful school - King Henry VIII School, Coventry. I was a bit nervous beforehand, as I always am with these things, but I needn't have worried. Everyone was kind and welcoming, especially the school librarian, Kirsty Hill, who organised my visit. And the students were lovely - all very enthusiastic and full of questions, comments and ideas.

I met some keen readers and budding young authors - always a big treat. I spoke to all the Year 7s (130 of them) about how my YA novel Coping to Chloe came into being, and showed them some of my first scribbled ideas. I also passed round some of the early cover designs - the ones we rejected before homing in on the present cover, which I love (look closely - the locket chain is actually a string of words...)

I told the Year 7s how I wrote my first book at 15 but didn't get published until I was, er... well into middle age! And I thoroughly enjoyed running a workshop for one of the Year 7 classes, in which I provided a worksheet to help them get started with creating a character and giving that character a problem. (That's exactly what I'm doing now as I get started on my latest YA novel.) Some of the students shared their characters and read aloud the beginnings of their books. I don't think anyone need worry about the future of literature, if these young people are anything to go by. I'll be looking out for their books on the shelves in future years.

Finally, after a welcome lunch and an interesting chat with librarian Kirsty Hill, I met several keen young readers and writers and did my best to answer their very good questions.

So, thank you, King Henry VIII School, for inviting me to speak and for looking after me so well. You have a beautiful school, a lovely library and a very committed librarian and teaching staff. And special thanks to everyone who bought a signed copy of Coping with Chloe. Don't forget to let me know what you thought of it (one of you already has - thank you!)

Finally, here is a lovely piece about my visit written by one of the students, Leanne Cope of Class 7MN:


Rosalie Warren- A Visit to KHVIII

On the second of March, 2011, the year seven pupils of King Henry VIII School got an exciting visit from Rosalie Warren - author of Coping with Chloe, Charity’s Child and Low Tide, Lunan Bay.

Initially, we had a brief plot of Coping with Chloe. Then, Rosalie handed out several covers for the books which the publishers had suggested. Some worked really well with the book but others I felt didn’t.

Finally, Rosalie asked for ideas about her new book. We had ideas from children in care retracing their long lost parents; to innocent prisoners stuck in prison.

It was an interesting session with Rosalie, but little did 7MN know that for their next lesson they would be having a professional writer taking them for English.

Firstly, we got given a sheet of paper with basic ideas about the main character of a book we were going to write by ourselves. Some of the questions included the character's favourite music and favourite films.

Overall I thought the day was really fun and I’m sure the rest of year seven will agree. We all thank you very much for coming in Rosalie!


Many thanks, Leanne. Hope to see you all again soon.

Best wishes,
Rosalie

Photos by Kirsty Hill

Wartime memories, ghost walks, hangings, paranormal detectives, past lives, poetry, quantum theory of the Coventry Ring Road - just for a start!

No, no, folks - I'm honestly not trying to score hits on Google. The above is an accurate description of just some of the contents of Coventry Tales - the anthology produced by the Coventry Writers' Group, which has now hit Kindle with a bang.

And this coming Saturday, 12th Nov, you have your chance to meet the authors, purchase a signed copy of the paperback edition, claim your free Coventry Tales pen and hear various authors speak about their writerly joys and angst.

Click here for Coventry Tales on Amazon - in paperback or Kindle form.

And click here for the Coventry Tales clip 'Inspired by You' on YouTube!

It's all in Waterstones, Smithford Way, Coventry City Centre, this coming Saturday (12th Nov) from 10:30am until about 12:30pm. And let me tell you, Waterstones are great hosts for events like these. When I did my signing there for Coping with Chloe back in May, they were wonderful - I was well supplied with coffee throughout and there was lots of traffic through the store.

On Saturday, with half a dozen authors present or even more, there should be a real buzz. And if anyone local is interested in joining the Coventry Writers' group, there'll be information on hand and lots of folk to make you feel welcome.

The book - well, whatever your interests, there should be something there for you. Every piece was inspired by our wonderful city in some way. There is fun, humour, thought-provoking stuff written by young and (relatively) old. The book has been professionally produced and copy-edited (I'll be personally answerable for any typos that have crept in) - and the heartfelt thanks of the Coventry Writers' group go to Mike Boxwell of Greenstream Publishing, who took the initiative, whipped us into line and made actual a project we'd been talking about for years.

So, many thanks Mike and everyone else who contributed - and hope to see Waterstones thronging on Saturday. (By the way - if you know any exiled Coventrians - this would be the perfect Christmas gift for them.)


Click here for Coventry Tales on Amazon - in paperback or Kindle form.

Talking Books! Coventry Central Library Event

Thursday evening, our library launch event, was fabulous! The young people performed wonderfully, lots of people came, cakes and other things were eaten, wine and soft drinks were drunk, we chatted and introduced our books.

And a pair of young twins showed me a wonderful series of books they had written and produced themselves. Very professional and some great writing!

And finally, huge thanks to Coventry Central Library and their wonderful staff, for hosting the event, their wonderful displays and excellent publicity.

Chloe launch pictures