Virtual Author Visits

Children are almost always inspired when they meet a real life author or illustrator, but it may not always possible to have an author visit your school. However, why not put technology to work for you? Now you can arrange a virtual author visit via video using Skype. These can be conducted with large groups in a library or gym or with individual classes.

You can get an idea of what a virtual visit looks like by viewing my videos below or on YouTube in which I talk about my books, my workshops for adults and schools, plus my various services for writers.

Ideally, in preparation for a virtual author visit, students should have read at least one of my books prior to the visit, but can also familiarize themselves with my work by undertaking the Super Scavenger Search. You may also wish to download the word search puzzles related to each novel. Study guides and classroom resources are also available for all my novels. Each book can provide teachers with a wide variety of ways to explore projects with their students and class sets of books are available.

To host a virtual author visit, you will need to download Skype, which is available for both Windows and Macintosh, and have a webcam. Mac users may also be able to set up a virtual author visit using iChat. You may contact me directly at sorcerersletterbox@gmail.com for details on technical requirements and all about exactly how a virtual author visit works. A technical run through a few days prior is also advisable, to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day of the visit.