Best selling author hosts crime writing workshop for Doncaster school pupils

Youngsters at a Doncaster school were all clued up – when they were treated to a crime and mystery writing workshop by a best selling author.
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Children’s author Dave Cousins teamed up with the National Literacy Trust and the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) to bring his workshop to Dunsville Primary School and gift each participating pupil with a free book.

Dave, author and illustrator of 15 Days Without A Head and Charlie Merrick’s Misfits, gave Year 5 at the school top secret access to his mysterious, entertaining online workshop which consisted of a series of fun and creative activities that gave pupils a flavour of what it is like to develop and write a crime and mystery story.

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Dave is a lifelong fan of crime and mystery stories and his digital workshop is being run in support of the Ruth Rendell Award.

Author Dave CousinsAuthor Dave Cousins
Author Dave Cousins

The award was launched in 2016 by the National Literacy Trust and ALCS in honour of crime writer Ruth Rendell, and is given to the author or writer who has made the biggest difference to literacy in the UK in the past year.

In the workshop Dave shared his journey to becoming a writer from his dreams of walking on the moon to drawing comics in his bedroom, and activities included a quiz, writing, illustrating, character developing and even some code breaking, all building up to challenging pupils to go and write their own crime and mystery story. Dave also read part of his latest novel, A Robot Ate My Grandma (Little Tiger Press) and each pupil received a copy to take home and keep.

The class are also able to follow the session with a follow-up session where Dave will answer questions and offer feedback on the work they create.

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He said: “I really enjoy sharing tips to help young people get creative and write their own stories. I’ve always been a huge fun of crime and mystery books so was delighted to team up with the National Literacy Trust and ALCS to create this workshop. I certainly had a lot of fun creating it and I hope that Year 5 at Dunsville Primary School had fun taking part! I can’t wait to read their stories!”

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