David Donohue
- County
- Clare
- Genre
- Children's Writer
- Sessions
- Reading and Q&A, Discussion with Writer, Creative Writing Workshop
- Age Group
- 5 - 6, 7 - 10, 11-15
- Level
- Primary
- Languages
- Works in English ONLY
- Availability
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Mornings, Afternoons - Travel
- Yes
Publications/Repertoire/Productions & Background Experience
Walter Speazlebud (O'Brien Press, 2001), Moonman (Egmont Books, UK, 2006), & Alien Timebomb (Egmont, UK, 2007).
My books to date are based around the character, Walter Speazlebud, a mildly dyslexic boy who has the power of noitanigami (imagination backwards) & can spell any word or name backwards. Coincidentally this is a talent I have too! I have entertained children for years now with my gift to teach backwards spelling & my spirited, entertaining readings.
Moon Man was nominated for the Stockport Children's Award in 2007 and was also nominated in the British Top 160 Books for Boys List. I also review books for Inis magazine.
Session Details
David has worked with groups of up to 100 children in a theatre setting but is equally happy to work in classrooms or combined classrooms in a school or library setting. His sessions usually begin with his reading a short excerpt from one of his books followed by his spelling & pronouncing the names of the children in the audience backwards. This sets the scene for further readings followed by the finale: a backwards spelling competition. "I thought your presentation was well planned, well paced, consistenly interactive & lots of fun for the children. Further, you pushed them into a higher level of spelling backwards than we have been able to with forwards spelling the entire year. If you don't mind I am going to use that strategy next year when we teach word study." - Jennifer Hardy, Brooklyn New School, New York. David has also worked with transition year students, discussing his varied career in the arts which has spanned music journalism, to graphic design, songwriting, documentary-making, scriptwriting and music supervision for film, as well as being a children's author. David also facilitated the 'young critics' project with the Butler Gallery and Kilkenny Arts Week over a two-year period, a project in which David taught taught teenagers (16-18) the basics of critical reviewing and review research as the 'young critics' became the official critics for the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Age Group Details
Preferred age group: 6-12 year olds
- Telephone
- (086) 831 7766
- .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
- Website
- http://www.speazlebud.com