I’ve always wanted my own dressing room and that’s exactly what I got last Thursday when I was invited to take part in Yay! YA+ 2016 at Cumbernauld Theatre. Over 200 school pupils across the West of Scotland were invited to the event and I got to take part in a reading relay, along with authors Alexander McCall, Estelle Maskame, Elizabeth Wein and Martin Stewart. Alex Nye and Kirkland Ciccone presented in the large theatre. Kirkland organised the event and he did a wonderful job! You should check out his website here 

As I was NON-STOP reading all day long I unfortunately didn’t get to see any of the authors present or read. Instead I got to meet with loads of young people, and their teachers and librarians, and I had lots of fun. I now know parts of my book Follow Me off by heart, and I don’t think I’ve ever spoken quite so much about Andy Warhol in the one sitting…

I got asked lots of brilliant questions. This is one of my favourite parts of doing an event. I also like to occasionally fire back questions to my audience, and once again was blown away by the dedication shown to writing from a lot of the pupils.

We were served an impressive buffet at lunchtime and it was nice to get to chat to some authors I had never met before. It was also brilliant getting to chat to some of the pupils and do a book signing. What with that and getting to hang out in a dressing room, with lights round the mirrors, I almost felt like a celebrity for the day…

Here are some more photos from the event:

The staff at Cumbernauld Theatre were brilliant and kept everything ticking over so smoothly. I loved this quirky little theatre and wished I had more time to explore all of the nooks and crannies. I did get lost a couple of times ‘backstage’ when trying to find my way back to the main area. And despite some reports that the dressing rooms may be haunted I sadly didn’t come across any ghosts…

Next stop Gryffe High on Friday!