Chris Smith

(The Queen may or may not be in attendance 😘)

Will you visit our school?

I’d love to visit your school! I think seeing a real life author and being able to chat to them and ask questions is a transformative day for many kids. It encourages their creative writing and reading for pleasure, and it’ll get some students to pick up a book even though they started the day thinking reading wasn’t for them. Here’s how to organise it…

Make friends with a bookshop (or, if you’re lucky, a literary festival)

Do you have a lovely local independent bookshop or a branch of one of the big chains? There will be someone there who sorts out visiting authors, so pop in or give them a call to chat it through. They will know how to get in touch with my publishers to see if I’m available. Or perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a book festival in your area. If that’s the case, they may well run school events so give them a call and say hello.

How it works

The bookshop will organise book sales to the kids at your school in advance of the visit – then join me on the day with those pre-ordered books and I’ll sign and dedicate them. So you get an author event, I sell a few books, the kids get to take home a signed book having met the author and we’ve all helped keep your local bookshop in business. Win win win win!

What happens at your school event?

It’s really fun and interactive with lots of hands in the air and imaginations firing. I’ll tell the kids a few stories about me and how I started writing stories, and a bit about the books I’ve written. We’ll probably all make up a story or two together and then they’ll get plenty of time to ask questions. They’ll go back to class itching to read and write, I promise you.

Who is the event for?

Generally Key Stage 2.

How long will it last?

The event generally lasts between 45 minutes to an hour, followed by a signing for any kids who bought books.

How much does it cost?

If you’re partnered with a bookshop and you’re going to sell a fair number of copies, I won’t generally charge a fee on top of that. Festivals normally pay me a small fee but they’ll organise that so it shouldn’t eat into your precious school budget. If you’re a long way away from London, where I live, we’ll have to have a chat about transport costs and a hotel if I need an overnight stay.

I have a budget and I want to cut through all this admin and just book you!

Lucky you, lucky me, hooray. Drop me an email using the CONTACT page.

What about Greg?

Greg is busy waking up the nation every morning on Radio 1, so it’s quite difficult to organise visits together. We are able to do a few school events, usually around publication time, and some of those are online. Those would be organised through our publishers Puffin, your friendly bookshop will know how to get in touch with the PR team there to ask. Or sign up for updates from our good friends the National Literacy Trust who organise wonderful virtual visits for multiple schools.