Virtual Author Visits
Genuinely interactive writing workshops delivered via Zoom, Teams or Google Meet. In the words of children’s author Gareth Jones, ‘Act like you’re there and you will be!’
Session content
An online visit is sometimes the most practical or cost-effective solution, so I do offer virtual versions of my Ancient Egypt and Titanic themed workshops for Key Stage 2. The structure of these sessions is as follows;
- Short talk about the background of the book
- A short virtual tour of the Titanic or the Ancient Egypt Sculpture Gallery
- One or two practical activities for the children (idea generation rather than full-on writing)
- Idea sharing (some children come to camera or mic)
- I share my screen and model good practice for character description and scene setting, using ideas suggested by the children
- Five minutes of Q&A (or ten if children have read the book and have a lot of questions)
Testimonial (2025)
Steve was genuinely fantastic; the students came out of his sessions absolutely buzzing! Even with our temperamental WIFI, he managed the online calls really effectively, interacting with our students throughout, even guiding each of them through their own character development process – they were completely enthralled! A real professional from start to finish and an inspiration for our budding writers and reluctant readers alike. Thank you, Steve!”
