Conference - day 2

This is the venue of the conference, a big, expensive (20k a term, apparently) catholic girls boarding school. I would have hated it! 

The conference itself is really fun, kicking off with David Almond and Cressida Cowell in conversation, about their writing process, inspirations etc... Some inspiring remarks from David Almond...

There was a panel about developing empathy with picture books. I enjoyed the bit when each picture book creator were describing what they start with in a story. One of them, starts with the emotions they want to explore, another with a doodle/drawing they did and thought there was a story there, the third, who didn't illustrates her own books starts with a situation, a "what if?"

One panel with Brian Conaghan and Nathanael Lessore, both from very deprived areas - Brian was involved in gang culture and didn't learn how to read until he was older, then discovered poetry through hip-hop and rap, eventually became a teacher and an award winning author, his books are aimed at the young person he used to be and represents the communities in the deprived parts of Scotland like the one he comes from. They are very funny and very tough at the same time, often controversial because of the language he uses - he perfectly captures the street slang..

There was a session about non-fiction, one about humour... The day finished with Michael Morpurgo, celebrating his 80th birthday - he was really good! 
A long day - finishing as always in the bar until closing time..