Young writers
As Patron of Reading Blessed Edward Oldcorne in Worcester, a number of students read at the book launch of Max & Luchia in 2018 and details of their activities and successes can be located by visiting the Patron of Reading page
The rest of this page contains a selection of visits to schools, workshops and newspaper articles
01/02/23 – The annual Worcestershire Litfest Young Writer competition is now OPEN!!
27/11/22 – The launch of the Young Writer’s Anthology was such a joy. Over 50 stories were included, with entries received from all over the UK. The stories, as always, were filled with the most incredible imagination and wonder
19/10/22 – Thank you St Nicholas, Pinvin for having us. As The Story Knights, Seraphim Bryant and myself loved meeting the pupils in Years 3 – 7. Based on Max & Luchia: The Game Makers & Jimmy Cricket at Black Pear Press, the young people came up with the most creative ideas.
They were Brilliant!!!
23 and 24 July 2022 – Two really enjoyable days at the Worcester Fringe. The first day focussed on the power of the imagination – of castles, knights and dragons. The second day moved focused on the darker world of Dystopian fiction.
12/06/22 – The launch of the Worcestershire Litfest included an awards ceremony for the Young Writers competition. This year, we received entries from all over the country and it was incredible to hear the young people as they read their amazing stories.
12/05/22 – Lovely to return to Pershore High School for the 1st time since pre-pandemic. The imagination of the creative writing club is amazing I’m grateful to have met them. We spoke about The Objectors and Dystopian fiction, too.
05 & 06/05/22 – A return to Bishop Wand School. Once a pupil and now, 35 years later, with the opportunity to talk about The Objectors with the Creative Writing Club and the Year 8s.
Thank you to all the staff and the pupils in the school for making me feel so welcome. It is a day I will never forget.
03/03/22 – A world book day that neither myself nor Seraphim Bryant will forget at St Peter’s Primary in Bromyard
We carried out 4 x sessions on Max & Luchia: The Game Makers for the years 3-6, then created a game based on the Minotaur’s Maze for the Years 1 & 2.
Amazing day!!
01/02/22 – a great day at The Chantry in Martley. We spoke with two different groups of Year 8s about The Objectors and dystopian fiction. The pupils were the absolute stars of the day.
We received some lovely feedback from the school:
“Kevin’s visit was a great success with year 8 pupils enjoying the talk and interaction afterwards together with book signing. I would recommend him and Seraphim and invite them in again in the future. Thank you so much”
16/01/2022 – The Free to Enter Worcestershire Litfest Young Writers competition 2022 is now open. Details as per the below entry details
15/10/21 – The Objectors school visit to the library at Christopher Whitehead Language College, Worcester, was amazing. The story advocates the collective strength of youthful protest against injustice. The Year 9s were brilliant, insightful and their visions of the future were spellbinding.
07/10/21 – for National Poetry Day, 2021, we met 400 inspiring poets at St Nicolas Primary School in Alcester in 7 different sessions. Using pinecones, paper leaves, their words & images, we discussed autumn, nature and poetry. If we’re #TheStoryKnights the clever, creative, amazing young people are #poetryroyalty. A lovely way to spend National Poetry Day
5/10/21 – At King’s St Albans in Worcester. A really enjoyable morning with the Year 5s who were incredibly engaging and imaginative as we spoke about Max & Luchia, illustrations and the creation of their own wonderful stories! Thank you SO much for having us
31/08/21 – Lovely day at The Hive, Worcester this week. We were amazed by the creativeness of the young people
31/07/21 – We met some incredible young writers at both Tenbury and Kidderminster library today. I am sure that their entries to the competition will be amazing
27/07/21 – A real privilege to be asked to judge the poetry competition for St Nicholas Primary School in Alcester. The themes were Lockdown Life, Animals & Nature, The People Around Me and Free Choice and all of the entrants were published in a wonderful anthology at Molly’s Cotton Tails
Arthur is one of the category winners
18/06/2021 – The results of the Worcestershire Litfest Young Writer competition are always one of the highlights of the year, especially as The Story Knights are now sponsors of the event 
As well as a trophy, the winners received a book token, a certificate and a book that has been written and illustrated by The Story Knights (further info on the ‘Books‘ page). Good for them!
Alistor, winner of the years 7-9 category
09/03/2021 – Covid secure school visit with Seraphim Bryant as #thestoryknights in the wonderful surroundings of Abberley Hall School. We marvelled at the wonderful imaginations of the Year 7s and 8s who created stories for the Worcestershire Lit Fest & Fringe YW competition. Good for them We talked about books at Black Pear Press and illustrations at Bluefalcon1983.com too
17/02/2021 – The Worcestershire Litfest Young Writers competition 2021 is now open. Details as per the below YouTube recording and entry details
05/12/2020 – We received over 80 entries to the Worcestershire Young Writers competition, 2020, and many of them have been published in this marvellous anthology – good for them!
05/03/20 – A #worldbookday visit to Blessed Edward Oldcorne – hurrah! The Year 7s created ideas based on stories at Black Pear Press. Young Writers are always imaginative. Today I was TRULY AMAZED! Then, thoroughly entertained by the 3 & 4-year-olds at Cornmeadow Early Years. A blessed day, indeed!
03/03/20 – A wonderfully creative day with Seraphim Bryant as #thestoryknights at Halesowen Primary School. Years 3 – 5 created stories, characters and illustrations, all from their fantastic imagination (with a little help from Max & Luchia at Black Pear Press). Thank you for having us!
18/02/2020 – A thoroughly enjoyable morning in The Hive Library, Worcester. It was great to be back in The Studio and the scene of the book launch of Max & Luchia – this time for a creative session. A really good turnout, despite the floods and, as always, the young people produced some fantastic ideas
7/1/2020 – A really enjoyable morning at St Peters Droitwich C of E Academy. Seraphim Bryant and myself were thoroughly entertained by the Year 4s who worked together brilliantly to create stories and illustrations and then presented them back to the room of 90 (!)
13/12/19 – A special day at Cranham Primary School. Seraphim Bryant and myself spoke with the Year 2s about Myths and Legends and then listened in amazement as the Year 3s created stories and developed their own illustrations based on Max & Luchia: The Game Makers. We also became part of ‘Careers with Cale’
01/12/19 – We had 96 marvellous entries for the Worcester Litfest Young Writers competition. 60 are now published in ‘The Myth’ Young Writers’ anthology at Black Pear Press that was launched on Sunday 1st December. Local schools included in the anthology include Blessed Edward Oldcorne, Kings Hawford, Baxter Collge and Northwick Manor Primary School – good for them!!
18/11/19 – The Kid’s Lit Quiz is a World-wide event aimed at finding the world’s best young readers. The final this year is in Hamilton, New Zealand and it was great to watch the teams from Blessed Edward at the regional event in Coventry. Team ‘A’ came fifth and Team ‘B’ scored 9/10 in the Shakespeare round – Marvellous!
07/11/19 – A return to Whittington Primary School, this time with a class of Year 6s who created some great ideas for the upcoming Rotary Young Writers Competition on the theme of ‘Connections’
03/10/19 – National Poetry Day at Blessed Edward Oldcorne with some fellow local poets. The Year 9 pupils created incredible poems on the theme of ‘Truth’. Very clever ideas including the notion of how images can be deleted, but lies can be repeated.
23/09/19 – First school visit of the year to Blessed Edward Oldcorne. As the Story Knights, myself and Seraphim Bryant spoke to the new Year 7s about fantasy and reality in storytelling. We used Max & Luchia: The Game Makers and Jimmy Cricket at Black Pear Press as a start. Their imaginations did the rest!
17/07/19 – Final school visit of the year to Pershore High with Seraphim Bryant. We spoke about publishing with Black Pear Press, Self Publishing and Freelancing since graduating from the University of Worcester. Thank you for inviting us!
12/07/19 – A marvellous day with Sera Bryant and myself as The Story Knights and the pupils at St Nicholas, C of E Middle School, Pinvin. Lovely to use Max & Luchia: The Game Makers as a springboard into their incredible imagination
20/05/19 – Always such a treat to be invited to attend the Living Library at Blessed Edward Oldcorne in Worcester. This year, Seraphim and I went as The Story Knights!
11/04/19 – Really proud to have received an award for something I love doing. Thank you to Rotary Club of Worcester Severn, to Polly Stretton for the nomination, to Black Pear Press and to Blessed Edward Oldcorne and the other schools and theatre groups who have kindly given me the opportunity
04/04/19 – Inspiring day at Pershore Number 8 Theatre with Sera Bryant and myself as ‘The Story Knights’. We used Max & Luchia: The Game Makers & Jimmy Cricket as a starting point and the incredibly talented members of Number 8 Youth Theatre did the rest. They were amazing – good for them!
18/03/19 – At Blessed Edward Oldcorne to judge the Book Art Competition and to offer 2 x workshops on the theme of ‘Myths & Legends’ for the Worcester Litfest Young Writers Competition, 2019. Both Sera Bryant and myself are looking forward to reading the entries!
07/03/19 – World Book Day. Thank you so much to Suckley Primary School in allowing Seraphim Bryant and me to discuss ‘myths & legends’ with Years 1 & 2. The imagination of young people is truly inspiring. Good for them!
07/03/19 – World Book Day. A big thank you to Blessed Edward Oldcorne in allowing Seraphim Bryant and me to talk to the Year 7s about stories anchored in reality and fantasy. We received a lovely welcome from the staff and the pupils, who created the most incredible ideas!
15/02/19 – I’m grateful to the Society of Authors for allowing me the opportunity to do this. The award is SO well deserved! Signed by Philip Pullman too!
07/02/19 – Great to be at the Rotary Young Writers awards ceremony at which 2 x Blessed Edward students came 1st and 2nd in the intermediate category. The theme of the competition was ‘My Inspiration.’ Well done them!
07/02/19 – Sera Bryant and I spent a really lovely morning at Northwick Manor Primary School at which we spoke about Max & Luchia, as well as plot development and character construction. The students were incredibly engaging and the staff made us feel extremely welcome. We are very grateful.
28/01/19 – At Pershore High for the Flash Fiction competition awards ceremony. The first time I’ve been asked to judge a competition (with Sue Johnson) and it was really difficult. All of the entries were imaginative and original – good for them!
23/11/18 – Return to Pershore High with Sue Johnson and Naomi Flanagan for a session on re-drafting. Hoping the young writers will enter their stories into the Rotary Young Writers competition on the theme of ‘My Inspiration’ and the Evesham Festival of Words competition next year. I hope so, they were brilliant!
19/11/18 – A fantastic day at Westlands First School, Droitwich and a real treat to be so incredibly entertained by the engaging, creative and imaginative students. Thank you to everyone at the school for making Sera Bryant and myself feel so welcome!
18/11/18 – The launch of the LitFest Young Writers’ Anthology, published by Black Pear Press. 40 stories included from young writers across the county, including 19 students from Blessed Edward Oldcorne, 12 from Christopher Whitehead Language College and 2 from Pershore High
Good for them!!
16/11/18 – The Kids’ Lit Quiz is a huge worldwide, literary event. It was great to see teams A & B from Blessed Edward Oldcorne do so incredibly well in the Coventry heats. Team B came joint second out of 19! Linda Bromyard, Chris Horn, Phil and myself were incredibly proud of each and every student who took part.
12/11/18 – At Whittington C of E Primary School. Both Sera Bryant and I received an incredible welcome from staff and pupils alike – thank you. Some original ideas for stories included using ‘Black Rainbow’ as a title and using garlic bread to repel the Vampires! A lovely thank you, too
24/10/18 – Young people’s writing is always such a joy. After much deliberation, the winners of the Year 7 Blessed Edward Oldcorne, Acrostic Poem competition have been decided. Some really heartfelt work about starting a new school. Fantastic stuff!!
19/10/18 – A hotfoot to the always welcoming Pershore High School to do a workshop focussed on the Rotary Young Writers Competition. Some really, really good ideas, one of which revolved around eating Roast Potatoes to save the world. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that – Genius.
19/10/18 – The reason I do this. How amazing for a student to find such enjoyment in Max & Luchia during an English class, that he went to the library and loaned a copy to read at home. His teacher invited me to Christopher Whitehead school and after a half-hour session on the book, I gave a copy to the glorious young man!
I could give up now – it doesn’t get any better than this!!!
08/10/18 – Myself and Sera Bryant were made to feel SO welcome by the staff and pupils at Suckley Primary School today. Our first session on Max & Luchia too. The below quote and photo are from the school Twitter feed.
“Thank you for joining us! The children were captivated by the story and now the school is a buzz of children reading Max and Luchia’s adventure. They can’t put it down!”
03/10/18 – The students who read at the book launch of Max & Luchia: The Game Makers, were incredibly brave. They were also incredibly good!
Worcester News Article – Pupils Read at Book Launch
05/09/18 – First visit of the year to Blessed Edward Oldcorne to discuss potential readers at the book launch of Max & Luchia: The Game Makers on 23rd September. We are ready to go!!
19/07/18 – Young Writers always inspire me. Yesterday, at the Pershore High activities day, was no different as two groups of year 8s created stories re: ‘My Inspiration’. It is the theme of the Rotary Young Writers Competition and, after discussing our thoughts, we headed outside to find our inspiration in the places we least expected. Myself and English teacher, Nick Spice, were amazed at their fantasticness!
25/06/18 – A day in the Patron of Reading role at Blessed Edward Oldcorne that involved initiating students in a Summer Writing Project. On the theme of rivers, mountains and forests, we headed outside to add authenticity, discussed different perspectives, considered aspects of plotting and spoke about 360 degree perspective. I’m looking forward to reading their work!
21/05/18 – The Living Library at Blessed Edward Oldcorne is always a fantastic event. Thank you Linda Bromyard for inviting us. The students were, as always, the stars!
27/04/18 – An amazing day at Blessed Edward Oldcorne, that included two talks to year 7’s, judging the Bedroom in a Box competition, and finally, sorting the school’s entries for the Worcs Lit Fest, Young Writers competition, 18 in all.
19/03/18 – Great day at Pershore High School, where a group of yr10 & y11 boys created a story out of a hat. Ribbity Ribbon, football coach, gambler, raver, spoon player, his Jewellery heist thwarted by Korean mafia, goes onto win the Champions league. FANTASTIC STUFF!!
08/03/18 – It was ‘Kings and Queens’ day at Blessed Edward Oldcorne. 2 x sessions with 15 students, with each student creating a story for the upcoming Worcester Litfest Young Writers’ Competition. Really looking forward to reading these!
01/03/18 – Well, the Beast from the East scuppered a few World Book Day plans and revisits to Pershore High School and Blessed Edward Oldcorne have now been rearranged. Fortunately, I did get the chance to go to Christopher Whitehead School to talk about reluctant reading and my YA novel, Jimmy Cricket
29/02/18 – Lovely article by Black Pear Press – Thank you! I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to do this.
11/01/18 – Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the prize giving for the Rotary Young Writers Competition at Pershore High, but I’ve since read the four winning stories. Dark stuff but extremely compelling. One of them has since won the District Competition too! Good for them all!
17/11/17 – Didn’t they do well! The students of Blessed Edward Oldcorne that is! 5th and 8th in the regional finals of the Worldwide, KidsLitQuiz in Butts Arena, Coventry. Brilliant Performance! For more info – please see the Patron of Reading site
13/11/17 – Second visit to Pershore High School to follow one on 03/11/17. Some fantastic ideas from the young people with reference to the ‘A Different Perspective’ themed, Rotary Young Writers Competition! Looking forward to reading the entries!
12/10/17 & 6/11/17 – two visits to Blessed Edward Oldcorne to help judge and present certificates for the acrostic poem competition. Some difficult, decisions made
29/09/17 – First visit of the year to Blessed Edward Oldcorne. For more details, please see the Patron of Reading site
20/07/17 – Lovely day at Pershore High School. A presentation at morning assembly about ‘what I write and why?’ was followed by in-school activities. This included a session in which a group of students each wrote a story / began a story, based on the idea of receiving a sealed envelope and deciding what was inside & who they’d received it from. Some amazing ideas!
Newspaper article about a Visit to Blessed Edward Oldcorne, May 2017
Newspaper article about a Visit to Blessed Edward Oldcorne, November 2016
I was also lucky enough to be involved with the living library at Blessed Edward Oldcorne on 16th May 2016. Groups of 4 or 5 young people spoke to a number of local authors for 10 minutes at a time about one another’s writing hopes, dreams and ambitions
On 28th Jan, 2016, I visited Malvern Wells Primary School. Incredibly, they’ve been using my book The Roman Citizens from Class 6B as a bit of a resource. Below is an English Working Wall with extracts from the book, a sketch kindly donated by Maya Goodger, aged 8 (!) and me in a big, Roman hat. We discussed potential extra characters along with changes to the story. I wish I’d met them before I’d written the story now, it would have been SO much better!
A report written by one of the teachers at Malvern Wells can be found by clicking Testimonial
In December 2016, I visited Westacre Middle School in Droitwich. Using random items chosen from a bag, the students created two stories as below i.e. Wasarama and Frankie & The Witch (both attached as pdfs along with some of their notes). It took them about and hour and a half to create each story – they were amazing
Frankie & The Witch – Story – 27th Dec
In November, 2015, the wonderful Mrs Bromyard, allowed me to visit Blessed Edward, Oldcorne and speak with some incredibly engaging and fantastic Year 7 boys. Together we talked about how sport can have such a positive influence, which is also the theme of my Young Adult novel, Jimmy Cricket. We spoke about this too!!
In May, 2015, it was the living library again. Listening to young people’s ideas is always truly inspiring and this day was no different!