I have a blast visiting schools and inspiring kids to read and to write their own stories.
I'm available for virtual workshops nationwide and real-life in-person visits inside the M25 and in the south-east of England.
My writing is aimed at 8-11 year-olds, so these are best suited for KS2 pupils.
If you're interested in having me at your school/library/festival/space-station, please get in touch with me at teavaughan@gmail.com and I am happy to discuss any requests.
VIRTUAL VISITS
A 30-minute sessions of my workshop called HOW TO BE SUPER FUNNY, which explores how I create funny, fictional characters such as silly supervillains, and touches upon some important elements of story-telling - all in a fun, accessible presentation with lots of popular-culture touch-points to help engage the children, followed by a Q&A.
Price: £30 for a 30-minute virtual workshop. Or free if the school commits to buying 15 of my books!
IN PERSON VISITS
Nothing beats getting out there and talking to school kids in person!
I'm available for half-day and full-day visits.
These include an interactive assembly with a reading, a talk about how I come up with ideas for my books and an author Q&A. This can then be followed by interactive sessions of my HOW TO BE SUPER FUNNY workshop with individual classes, where we work together to come up with our own funny characters and build a story around them.
I particularly love talking about story and structure, so for more advanced year groups I am more than happy to come up with bespoke workshops that focus on different elements of story-telling.
All of this can end with a book signing, working with a local bookshop so pupils have a copy to take home.
Prices:
£150+VAT for a half-day visit including an assembly up to two sessions, plus travel charged at 45p a mile.
£200+VAT for a full day visit including an assembly and/or multiple sessions, plus travel charged at 45p a mile.
TESTIMONIALS
"When Tom Vaughan came to visit St Mary's Primary, Pulborough, we had no idea that we would end up becoming authors in the making ourselves! Together, we designed a crazy bad guy and Tom inspired us all to go away and get writing. It was brilliant to hear about the process of writing and amazing to see an ACTUAL person who has written ACTUAL books! Some of our aspiring writers even got to share their ideas with Tom. What a fantastic experience - thank you Tom."
Seren Hatcher, Deputy Headteacher, St Mary's Primary School, Pulborough
"I can thoroughly recommend a visit from Tom; he was engaging and funny! The class loved creating their own Supervillains, as well as having the opportunity to ask questions about the book and the writing process."
Jane Atkin, KS2 Lead, West Hill Primary, Wandsworth
"Tom was a wonderful visitor to our school. He inspired and entertained our children across the whole primary age range, telling the story of his journey towards publishing his first book, 'Bin Boy', bringing to life his cast of exciting characters and their adventures. In sharing extracts from his book, the children were encouraged to consider their own roles as readers and how this might influence their own approach to writing. Following his presentations to the individual classes, Tom spent time with the children discussing his writing and signing personal copies. This was such a treat for all the children."
Samantha Rudge, Head of English, St Christopher's The Hall School, Beckenham
