Key Stage 3

Click on the links below to book a session directly with the author. Use CTRL+F or ‘find in page’ in your browser menu to search for authors or topics.

Offers free 15-20 minute sessions
Offers longer sessions for a payment

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Samantha Baines

Author of Harriet versus the Galaxy (Best Children’s Books of the year 2019 – ipaper) a hilarious adventure about a little girl with a hearing aid that can translate alien languages.

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David Barker

Author of the London Falling series (Tiny Tree). Set in a divided Britain where London is cut off from the rest of the country, this dystopian series centres on orphan Pax’s adventures as he gets to attend an elite school and discover not everything is as it seems. Sessions focus on the joy of writing, hits & tips for using the future as a setting and readings from the books. Lots of experience with school sessions ranging from small groups to whole-school assemblies.
Read an interview with David Barker.

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Sophia Bennett

Author of The Look, You Don’t Know Me, Love Song (winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year 2017) and Following Ophelia.  I talk about what it takes to set out on a career in the creative industries.

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Chris Bradford

Author of the Young Samurai series and Ninja series.

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Tony Bradman

Author of Viking Boy, Anglo-Saxon Boy, Revolt Against the Romans, Daisy and the Unknown Warrior, A Bad Day for Jayden, and many other books.

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Catherine Bruton

Author of We Can be Heroes, Pop! and I Predict a Riot.

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Perdita & Honor Cargill

Co-authors (Mum & 19 year old daughter) of the Waiting for Callback series (Casting Queen, Take Two and It’s A Wrap) – a funny teen series about teen actor-in-training, Elektra James.

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Jim Christian

Author of How to Think Like a Coder: Without Even Trying!

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Cherry Cobb

Author of Becky Bloomsfield.

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Katharine & Elizabeth Corr

Authors of Young Adult fantasy novels The Witch’s Kiss trilogy (HarperCollins Children) and A Throne Of Swans duology (Hot Key Books).

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Alex Cotter

Author of House on the Edge.

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Ben Davis

Author of the award-winning What’s That in Dog Years and the Carnegie-nominated The Soup Movement. For teen readers, there is The Private Blog of Joe Cowley series.

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Ruth Eastham

Author of The Memory Cage, The Messenger Bird, The Jaguar Trials, Arrowhead and The Warrior in the Mist. For more details, contact Ruth.

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Emily Fellah

Illustrator of the I Can Draw series of step-by-step drawing books featuring fun characters based on simple shapes. I offer comics and illustration workshops to engage pupils with writing, character creation and drawing, which can be designed to tie in with curriculum topics of your choice. I also run sessions for World Book Day and literacy and arts weeks.
TOPICS: Shakespeare, heroes/aspirational people, art topics such as Pop Art, portraits/identity, learning about how books are made.

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Lindsay Galvin

Author of Darwin’s Dragons. Victorians, famous figures, science, natural history and evolution, animal welfare, conservation, writing tips process and inspiration. Includes PowerPoint, interactive.

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Julia Golding

Author (writing as Joss Stirling) of Finding Sky series, Struck series, and many more. As Eve Edwards, WW1 duet, Dusk and Dawn, and Tudor trilogy, The Other Countess etc.

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Louise Gooding

Author of Just Like Me; 40 neurologically and physically diverse people who broke stereotypes. Online readings, neurodiversity talks, presentations and Q&A sessions available.

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Sara Grant

Author of the action-adventure series Chasing Danger. Sara has inspired, written or edited nearly 100 books for children. She teaches Goldsmiths University’s MA class on writing for children/teens.

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Sarah Hagger-Holt

Author of Nothing Ever Happens Here and Proud of Me (Winner of Little Rebels Award) and Just Like Everyone Else. Themes of friendship, family relationships and LGBTQ+ identities. Interactive sessions, Q & A, readings.

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Chris Hallatt Wells

Author of King Bones.

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Claire Hatcher-Smith

Author of The Mizzy Mysteries. In a fun, family-history mystery, Mizzy investigates what people are really like beneath the surface and learns to never underestimate anyone.

Read an interview with Claire here to find out more about her writing and her inspiration for the Mizzy books.

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Alice Hemming

Author of the Dark Unicorn books. Sessions offered on life as a writer, the writing process and editorial tips.

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Fleur Hitchcock

Author of Murder in Midwinter, Murder at Twilight, Waiting for Murder,  Bus Stop Baby, The Boy Who Flew and Mouse Heart.

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Sarah Holding

Author of  The SeaBEAN Trilogy and Chameleon.

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Steve Holloway

Author of Pelagia and marine biologist, Steve will explore the ‘blue frontier’ of the open seas and how we could pioneer and settle them in an environmentally sensitive way in the near future.

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Rowena House

Author of The Goose Road, and a short story in War Girls, both focused on the first World War. Cross curricula opportunities for English, History and French studies. Science, too, about Spanish Flu.

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Penny Joelson

Author of I Have No Secrets, Girl in the Window and Things the Eye Can’t See – thrillers with protagonists who have disabilites/health issues.

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Kathryn L Kettle

Author of The Boy I Am. Confident speaker with workshops on issues and themes from The Boy I Am, and on the craft of writing, suitable for various ages and audiences on a range of topics.

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Sophie Kirtley

Author of The Wild Way Home (Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month) and The Way to Impossible Island  – wild, heartfelt Stone Age adventures.

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Sue Klauber

Author of Zinc and Cobalt.
Zinc: It is 1939 and the Nazis are menacing Europe and planning to invade Britain. What can brothers John and George do to make a difference? Soon John is cracking German codes at Bletchley Park and George is parachuting into enemy territory. But what of their sister Eva? What will she do in this time of unimaginable danger?
Cobalt: Cobalt is the exciting follow-up story to Zinc, in which three Jewish siblings – John, George and Eva – continue to play key roles in the WW2 war effort, encountering high stakes and thrilling adventures in the UK and across war-torn Europe and North Africa.
‘Sue was absolutely fantastic with the boys. She gave 2 assemblies, one to yr 7 and one to yr 8 of around 140 boys each. Her talk was extremely interesting and educational. Even the boys who don’t usually manage to sit still in assembly found this very engaging. I have some students (ones who didn’t buy on the day) who are desperately waiting for Zinc and Cobalt to arrive as they can’t wait to read it! ‘ Librarian, Hasmonean Middle School.

TOPICS: WW2, Bletchley Park, Special Operations Executive, The Holocaust

Find out more about Sue and her books in our interview here.

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Richard Kurti

Author of Monkey Wars, screenwriter for film and TV.

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Josh Lacey

Author of The Island of Thieves and The Sultan’s Tigers.

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Dion Leonard

Author of Finding Gobi Young Adult Book. The incredible true story of Dion running a race across Gobi Desert in China, he didn’t expect he would meet Gobi and go on an incredible journey together.

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Nat Luurtsema

Author of Girl Out Of Water and Lou Out Of Luck.

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Will Mabbit

Author of Embassy of the Dead.

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Michael Mann

Author of Ghostcloud, a soaring adventure with a mixed-race protagonist and themes of courage, hope and finding your voice. I am a trained primary teacher and happy to provide follow-up activities.

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Karen McCombie

Author of more than 100 published books, and described by Waterstone’s as “one of children’s fiction’s most accomplished authors”. Recent books suitable for lower KS3 include World of Wanda (ADHD theme), My Perfect Cousin and The Mystery of Me (both short-reads suitable for dyslexic, reluctant or struggling readers).

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Cliff McNish

Author of The Doomspell, Breathe (a ghost story) Angel and Savannah Grey.

Read more about Cliff, his visits and his writing tips here!

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Jonathan Meres

Author of mainly humorous books such as the best-selling, award-winning World of Norm series (Hachette). General chats, readings, songs, Q&As.

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CG Moore

Author of Fall Out and Gut Feelings (ages 12-14 years).

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Sarah Mussi

Author of Riot, Siege, Bomb, Breakdown, Angel Dust and Here Be Dragons.

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Tom Palmer

Author of Armistice Runner, D-Day Dog and After the War.

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Kimberly Pauley

Author of the Sucks to Be Me series and Cat Girl’s Day Off.

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Emma Reynolds

Author and Illustrator of Drawn to Change the World.
TOPICS: Climate crisis, climate change, environmental racism, youth climate activism, community action, the need to centre Indigenous knowledge.

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RM Romero

Author of The Dollmaker of Krakow, a fusion of fairy tales, Slavic folklore, and World War II history that illustrates the power of love and the inherent will to survive even in the darkest of times.

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Joshua Seigal

Author of I Don’t Like Poetry (Bloomsbury), I Bet I Can Make You Laugh (Bloomsbury), Welcome To My Crazy Life (Bloomsbury), Yuck and Yum (Troika). I am able to offer fun poetry performances and Q & A.

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Nikki Sheehan

Author of Who Framed Klaris Cliff? and Swan Boy. Both books suitable year 5+ Available for short readings, questions, talks on these books, character development, and being a writer.

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Alexandra Sheppard

Author of Oh My Gods, a funny and warm YA novel about a teen girl living with her chaotic family – who happen to be the Greek gods in disguise. One of The Guardian’s 100 Best Holiday Books for 2019.

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Darren Simpson

Author of Scavengers, The Memory Thieves and Furthermoor.
I offer interactive presentations and workshops (and free short virtual sessions for groups who’ve read one of my books).
TOPICS include character perspective and development; worldbuilding; imagination and inspiration; feelings and friendship; waste and recycling.

Read more about Darren in our special Virtual Authors interview.

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Ali Sparkes

Author of Death By Detention (Coven) – Car-JackedDestination Earthand ShapeshifterUnleashed and Night Series all also suitable for teens.

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Colin Stuart

Author of The Big Questions in Science. With 10 years’ experience answering tough space questions from the Big Bang and black holes to aliens, time travel and other universes, I offer space Q & A sessions.

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Isabel Thomas

Author of Exploring the Elements, This Book is Not Rubbish and This Book will (Help) Cool the Climate.

Find out more about Isabel and all her amazing books in our interview here.

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Matthew Wainwright

Author of Out of the Smoke, a gripping adventure set in Victorian London. Follow Billy the chimney sweep as he rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld. Based on the work of Lord Shaftesbury.

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Elizabeth Wein

Author of Firebird, White Eagles, and The Last Hawk, easy readers from Barrington Stoke, as well as of Cobalt Squadron, a Star Wars adventure connected with The Last Jedi.

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Claudia White

Author of middle-grade fantasy novels Aesop’s Secret, Key to Kashdune and Servalius Window.

Find out more about Claudia in her interview with us here.

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Damaris Young

Author of The Switching Hour and The Creature Keeper.

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Neal Zetter

Author/poet of The Shape of Rainbow, The Universal Zoo, Chicken in the Kitchen and eleven more poetry books. I stage interactive virtual poetry performances, Q & As and online fun poetry writing workshops. Virtually any topic covered!
Read an interview with Neal and find out more about his books and writing tips.

About

This site is managed by Lou Treleaven. The original Virtual Authors website was set up by children’s author Jonathan Emmett in 2014 and run by him for 11 years. You can read all about it on his blog at https://jonathanemmett.com/2024/03/10-years-of-virtual-authors-uk.html.