Debbie Thomas

County
Kildare
Genre
Children's Writer, Screenwriter
Sessions
Reading and Q&A, Discussion with Writer, Creative Writing Workshop
Age Group
7 - 10, 11-15, 16 - 18
Level
Primary, Post Primary
Languages
Works in English ONLY
Availability
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Mornings, Afternoons
Travel
Yes

Publications/Repertoire/Productions & Background Experience

After training as a BBC radio journalist, I worked for ten years in Bangladesh and South Africa as a development journalist for aid agencies and newspapers. My work took me tea drinking with pygmies, interviewing prawn farmers and reporting on  garment factories. Now a children’s writer, I have published 6 middle grade adventure books for 9-11 year-olds (Chameleon Dad, My Secret Dragon, Class Act and the trilogy Dead Hairy, Jungle Tangle and Monkie Business). I am passionate about encouraging creative thinking, confidence and wellbeing in children and young people, especially those who may feel on the edge or overlooked, as I believe everyone is uniquely creative, often in ways unrecognised by the school curriculum. I love working with cross-cultural groups and using creative writing to fight all forms of prejudice. I have designed and run many workshops for children in direct provision and for refugees, including the award-winning ‘Connections’ project with Syrian families in County Clare. I am the Writer in Residence at Crumlin Children’s Hospital and travel nationwide promoting a love of reading and writing. I won the Little Tiger international Search for a Story award and have been a winner or runner up in 2 other international and 1 national competition and have won several Arts Council awards to work with children and refugees. 

Session Details

I offer 2 types of workshop: 1) author visits, in which I discuss themes from my books, and 2) creative writing sessions. In these I facilitate fun activities in an inclusive, non-judgmental environment to encourage original thinking and an understanding that there are no wrong answers in creativity. Exercises include turning words into characters, creating stories from everyday objects and imagining different viewpoints (younger) and poetry and aspects of story writing (older). My preferred age group is 8-12 for primary schools, and up to and including Transition Year in secondary schools.

Age Group Details

Primary school: 8-12 Secondary: up to and including Transition Year

Availability Details

I am very flexible and can work around being available most weekday mornings up to 1pm.

Telephone
01-6270194, 085-1267712
Email
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Website
http://www.debbie-thomas.com/

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