Special Guest Northern Highlight SCBWI North West   Tell us about the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) North West. SCBWI NW has around 75 members currently and until recently we met once a month on a Saturday in the events room at Waterstones, Manchester Deansgate. Though Manchester is our central point, members come from Cumbria, Shropshire and Sheffield. We generally split into age groups for critiquing with a large picture book group, a more compact middle grade group, a tween group that sometimes merges with YA and sometimes goes its own sweet way, and a YA group (they tend to make the most noise!). After critiquing, we have lunch and aim to have a workshop in the early afternoon.       How have you had to adapt to COVID-19? Obviously face-to-face meetings are not an option for the time being. Like the rest of the world, we have become converts to Zoom and now our critique groups meet online. As usual, we submit work for criti...

  NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Photo credit: Rob McDougall Sheila M Averbuch 1. Why did you become a writer/illustrator? Books were my life when I was 11. I'm dying to give kids the same experience, a book they can't put down. 2. Tell us about where you live. I live in a stone miner's cottage outside Edinburgh in a village called Pencaitland. Outside my window is a 17th century market cross and an old sundial that I'm pretty sure has a magic portal in its base somewhere. 3. Where do you work? I work here in the cottage and said historic sundial is in my eyeline as I write this. 4. What for you is the 'spirit of the North/Scotland’? Independence of mind. 5. Has this spirit influenced your work? Somebody said (going beyond the usual "write what you know"), "write what scares you".  That's what I feel when I sit down, a sense that I'm not just writing middle grade thrillers, I'm writing books that explore topics that scare me, and I hope readers w...

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT HAZEL HOLMES, UCLan Publishing     Tell us about your role and what this involves.  We're a very small team so, essentially it's a bit of everything, but mainly commissioning editor and project management. I also work closely with the academic team to ensure our business is fully integrated into the teaching on our MA and BA Publishing courses, as well opening up opportunities right across UCLan. It's a very exciting job at the moment!   How has the children's/YA offering developed at UCLan over the years,  and what have been the highlights?   I think the national support we received with our first commercial YA title, Cold Bath Street , really gave us the platform to grow our list and expand from YA to middle grade and non-fiction. It opened up discussions with authors, illustrators and agents who like what we do and want to be a part of it. Thanks to the pool of talent on campus we're also able to explore audio an...

 SPECIAL GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Heather Lacey, Inclusive Minds Co-director Tell us a bit about your role as a Director of Inclusive Minds  I have been working with Inclusive Minds (IM) for a while now: initially as an Inclusion Ambassador, but more recently - when establishing ourselves as a community interest company - I took up a role as co-director. I feel so honoured to be in this position and I must admit, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind since we set up in February, but I feel truly privileged that I have the opportunity to shape IM, and further develop our work within the industry. IM exists to ensure that every child and young person can see themselves authentically represented in their books. As a young, disabled, Northern girl, I never found characters like myself within the pages of my books. My world didn’t seem ‘important’ enough to reflect, and it was only when I attended university to read English that I really recognised this as an issue across the industry as ...

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT ANNA DOHERTY 1. Why did you become an illustrator? When I was growing up, I loved drawing imaginary tree houses and adventures, scenes from books I read or things around me in the house. Plus I read a lot when I was a kid so I think it was just a natural process! I came into children’s books from the illustration side. I went to art school without really deciding what I wanted to specialise in but once I realised children’s books could be a career, I was set on it. 2. Tell us about where you live. I live in Edinburgh in an old converted factory. We have skylights in two rooms so it sounds really cosy when it rains. It’s near the sea and I can’t imagine not living near the sea. I grew up in Edinburgh then moved to study Illustration in Dundee and Children’s Book Illustration in Cambridge. I love places that have old buildings and water. 3. Where do you work? I have a little studio in the spare bedroom in our flat. I have a desk, a l...

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Photo credit:  Linda Pelling Photography JON MAYHEW 1. Why did you become a writer? I’ve always loved reading and writing stories since I was a teenager but I became a writer by accident. Being passionate about literacy, I ended up teaching English in a High School. I used to write stories for my pupils. Then, one day, I was training for the London Marathon and I broke my ankle, quite spectacularly. Finding myself immobilised, I took to writing a story and that story became Mortlock, my first spooky, Victorian children’s book.  Cover illustration by  Robin Boyden Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books 2. Tell us about where you live. I live on the Wirral. It’s a misty, marshy peninsula stuck between North Wales and Liverpool. We have the best of all worlds; mountains and countryside to the left of us, city life and excitement to the right. I’ve always lived on the Wirral and have deep roots here. 3. Where do you ...