Writer for Animation, Film, Television, Books, Comics and Audio
To celebrate the publication of Timesmith last week the nice people at Waterstones Middlesbrough arranged for me to do a signing event in their store. Apart from the launch event for Sorrowline, which was a different sort of event, it’s the first time I’ve done a book shop appearance. When I do school events the …
It’s here at last! My second book is officially published today and it feel so much different to when my first book, Sorrowline, came out. Last year we marked the day with a trip to York and champagne in First Class – I even bought myself a ukulele! That was January last year. This time …
Sometimes good news comes from trees. Or is it in threes? Or on buses? Who knows! Anyway, I was thrilled to hear that Sorrowline had made it onto the Brandford Boase Award long-list, a prize for début writers and their editors which recognises excellence in writing and in publishing. The Award is made annually to …
One thing I’ve learned is that things take a long time in publishing! Way back in September 2011 the German publisher Heyne (part of Random House) bought the German rights to Sorrowline and Timesmith. This was my very first book deal – the UK rights sold a few months later. So you can imagine I’ve …
Last week I went back to my old school to talk to some of their Year 7 pupils about writing Sorrowline and my career in animation. I’ll admit I was pretty nervous as I pulled into the car park and went into the reception, dodging groups of lunch-time pupils looking at me suspiciously. It’s changed …
Every year Teesside University hold a week long animation festival called Animex. I’ve been going along for about 11 years and it just keeps getting better and better. It now has speakers and workshops covering games, comics, animation and VFX. In previous years I’ve helped out chairing events but this time I could relax and …
Tomorrow my first book, Sorrowline, is published. This is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a small boy, a day I sometimes thought might never come. It’s been a long wait, but it’s finally here. It’s a strange feeling, a mix of uncertainty and excitement, wondering what people will make of my book. I …
A busy week meant that I could only make one day of this year’s Children’s Media Conference in sunny Sheffield, (what is it about that place? Its been glorious every time I’ve been there!) With only one day to take it all in, and meet up with some people, I knew it was going to …
I had a really good night in Birmingham last Tuesday giving a talk on the my experiences setting up an animation studio in the North East. The event, held in The Studio, Birmingham, was organised by the lovely people from and BSeen. It was free to attend, and open to animators and designers of all …