Glow Scotland

This year’s Scottish Book Trust Writer in Residence is the award-winning teen fiction writer Catherine Forde.

Catherine will be available to answer all your questions about creative writing on Glow on the Third of February – time to be confirmed –

Click here to sign up to take part!

The event is suitable for secondary school pupils

Catherine Forde has been writing novels with teenagers as the central characters for over a decade. Most of her novels are contemporary and Glaswegian. In a previous life she taught English in secondary schools and colleges and edited dictionaries. Catherine likes to explore the relationship between teenagers and the adults in their lives, and her writing is colloquial and dialogue-driven. Recurring themes in her novels are the influence and impact of music on the individual, fitting in and fractured relationships.

Between now and March Catherine Forde will have a new writing task for learners on the first Monday of every month, and teacher’s notes on the task are also available. Watch Cathy’s brilliant video podcasts where she explains each task, and use the accompanying written notes. There are already 3 tasks online – check them out at the Scottish Book Trust’s site:

Click for pupils’ pages

Click for teachers’ pages

Just a reminder that the Glow Meet with Alan Bissett takes place next week.

It’s on Thursday 10th December at 2pm and will be in the Glowing Thursdays meeting room.

A new page has been created in the Literacy and English National Group to register your interest and to post any questions you may have for Alan.

On the page there are also details on how to test the Glow Meet before next Thursday.

It’s bound to be a very lively event so get involved on Glow using the link below!

Alan Bissett Glow Page

Alan Bissett is returning to his and Adam Spark’s old school, Falkirk High, to speak to pupils about his books and you and your class can also be there with Glow.

A Glow Meet with Alan will be held in the Literacy and English National Glow Group on Thursday December 10th at 2pm.

Alan invites S4-S6 to join him to hear him read from his books and to ask him questions about his work.

It promises to be a great event both for pupils and staff as you get to watch, hear and question one of Scotland’s most versatile talents.

You can register your interest and post questions for Alan to answer by replying to the post Here on the Glow group.

Please note you can now register your interest on the Alan Bissett Glow Page.

Have you read these books? Could you write a story in the Scots language?

The author, James Robertson, is a founder editor and a contributing author to the Scots language children’s imprint Itchy Coo.  As an Itchy Coo author he has translated Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox into Scots and A. A. Milne’s classic Winnie The Pooh.

A Glow Meet with James will be held in the Writer’s Workshop Glow Group on November 5^th at 10am.  James hopes S2 pupils will be interested in this session about writing in Scots.  There will be a follow-up session on 19^th November at 10am.  Menzieshill High School in Dundee is hosting the event and S2 pupils there will have the chance to meet James face to face, but pupils across Scotland will be able to join in via Glow Meet.

His first Glow Meet will look at the background to his translation of Winnie the Pooh into Scots, and include: short readings from the original and the translated editions; a general discussion about dialogue, names changes and the impact on the tone of the writing; and a  challenge for pupils.  James’ second Glow Meet will be a feedback session, looking at the pupils’ responses to his challenge.
Join the Glow Meets and learn to write well in Scots.

It’s nearly time for our second national online author event, again in association with the Scottish Book Trust.

MG Harris, author of the acclaimed Joshua Files novels, will be reading from her latest work, Ice Shock and then answering questions, all via Glow Meet. The event is being broadcast from Lenzie Academy at 13:30 on Tuesday the 9th of June, and you and your class can register to take part by visiting the Glow Group for the event and requesting access.

Once you’re in, you can leave your details in the sign-up form, and you can start to add your questions for MG to the discussion board – you may then get the chance to ask it to her live over Glow Meet on the day!

The event will last and hour, and is most suitable for P6 – S2, although everyone is welcome!

There will be a chance to check you can access Glow Meet with support from LTS on Monday the 8th (more details will be on the Glow Group), but please do go in and try before then if you can and get in touch if you have any problems – contact k.barrowman@ltscotland.org.uk with any issues.

This morning I was at a wonderfully exciting event, shared by thousands of children all across Scotland. The Scottish Book trust arranged for Anthony Horowitz, the best-selling author of the Alex Rider novels (among many, many more fantastic books) was broadcast live over the internet on streaming video and via Glow Meet. It’s estimated that up to 7000 fans around the country viewed the event, and hundreds then joined the Glow Chat afterwards.

Anthony took questions from the children from Uphall Primary and Canal View Primary, and also answered questions that had been submitted by schools in the weeks leading up to the event. He entertained everyone with his irreverent stories of evil grandmothers and detestable teachers – according to Anthony, every teacher he has ever had has appeared in one of his books, and he’s had them all meet a sticky end!

After his very enjoyable talk, Anthony joined children on Glow Meet, answering as many as he could of the thousands of questions that flowed in – so many, that the computer eventually gave up the ghost! Not to worry, though – Anthony will be blogging about the experience on his website, www.anthonyhorowitz.com, and you’ll be able to comment there and ask him the questions that didn’t get through.