I’ve joined the Substack bandwagon, and now have my own - Authorly Honest. In Authorly Honest, I’m going to be exactly that: awfully honest. Perhaps even stupidly, career-killingly honest. Actually, that’s a terrible idea, so scrap that. I’ll be as honest as I can without breaching my contracts. Yep, that sounds better. I’ll be giving you a warts-and-all insight into the writing, feelings, finances and life of a children’s author.

And just to be clear, that children’s author is – surprise, surprise – David Walliams!

Only kidding. It’s me!

(Sorry.)

But…why?

Good question. Thanks very much for asking it.

Truthfully, because I think it will be good for me (and interesting for you).

Somehow, 2024 is almost upon us, which means it’s not long now until the publication of PLEASE!, which makes its way into the world on 18th January - hooray!

Following on from ACHOO!, it’s the next manners-themed book from Nathan Reed and me, and is all about the (bonkers and alarming) consequences for young Bill when he forgets to say ‘please’ when asking for something…

I love libraries. They’re brilliant things. Access to thousands of FREE books. A quiet place to read or work. Knowledgeable, friendly book experts on hand to help with what to choose. What’s not to love?

At every school visit I do, I encourage…

I recently received some lovely book post - the Vietnamese co-editions for each book in my and Lucia Gaggiotti’s I Really Want… series…

Wanna See A Penguin?, my latest picture book with Oxford University Press, marvellously illustrated by Ian Smith, published back in April this year…

My debut picture book, You Must Bring A Hat, illustrated by Kate Hindley, was published by Simon & Schuster, more than seven years ago now! How time flies.

Since then, it’s won the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book of the Year award…

I work almost entirely at home.  The upside of this is that I work where I live – it’s the shortest commute in the history of commuting.  I don’t, but I suppose I could work whilst in bed, meaning I’d wake up and literally be at work in the blink of an eye…