School Visits
I love running writing workshops and doing talks about my writing! It’s great seeing young people firing up their imaginations and creating something new and I’ve worked with ages 4-15… including one memorable workshop where the youngest person was 4 and the oldest person was 14. That was quite a stretch, but it worked! If you’re a teacher, youth worker or school librarian wanting a lively, upbeat and inclusive writing session, find out more about the different talks and workshops here. I’m also open to new ideas and happy to create a bespoke package for your school or club.
Talks & Workshops for Adults
Talk: If I can do it…
This talk is focused on inspiration and is aimed at anyone who wants to do something creative in their lives. I talk about building my career in writing from scratch and about overcoming self-doubt, then broaden that out to give tips on how to complete any creative project they have in their head – whether that’s film-making, fashion design, fan art or being a YA author like me!
- An introduction and reading from Dead Lucky
- Talk can focus either on my media career or novel writing or both
- Q&A
- Works for age all age groups with tweaks tailored to the age of the audience
Talk: How books can change everything
This one works well for World Book Day! It focuses on why books still matter even when we’re surrounded by other forms of media. I talk about how hearing the right story at the right time can alter our perception and change our lives for the better.
Talk: Online heroes and villains
Reading from my YA thriller Dead Lucky, followed by a discussion of what
goes on behind the scenes of influencer culture, talking
about the pressures and privileges of influencer status,
how much of what we see is real and the effects of
living your life online.
This talk works best for ages 12-14 although I can make adaptations for older groups.
Writing workshop: creating compelling characters
My books are very character-focused and in this workshop students complete a series of exercises to create their own person from scratch, and experience how making a strong character can drive their story.
This workshop is suitable and adaptable across all ages!
Writing workshop: Let’s make a murder!
A fun workshop which focuses on the appeal of the murder mystery and all the elements and skills you need to make one of your own, asking why we love these stories so much. Together we will find the body of a poor unfortunate victim and decide out who killed them and why.
Writing workshop: Jump around – writing from multiple perspectives across multiple timelines (for older, more dedicated writers and adults)
All my books contain multiple timelines and first person narratives from different points of view. This fun workshop encourages students to experience the same event from three different povs, and flashing back to an earlier character experience unlocking different levels of the story as we go.
This workshop is more suitable for creative writing groups age 16+
‘Andreina visited us as guest speaker for our local Dorset book award ceremony where she gave a talk on creative writing to a packed hall of keen Book Group-ers from across the area. She related very well to the audience of Yr7-9s, complete silence in the hall as she illustrated her talk with humour and her insights into their teen world, and into the creative writing process. Also, ask her about her hook of incorporating quotations from the shortlisted books to make them much more vivid.’
Wendy Harty, librarian, talbot heath school
