Evening view across the creek. Sharjah is built around a beautiful man-made lagoon.
Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival
I’ve just come back from visiting schools in Sharjah, part of the United Arab Emirates. It was a lovely trip – very different to my everyday writing life at home! It was great to spend some time with other authors and illustrators – Lydia Monks, Alex T Smith, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, whose beautiful The Apple Tart of Hope I read while I was away, Nicola Morgan and Julia Johnson. But the best bit was getting to introduce my books and characters to a whole new audience of lovely, enthusiastic children. I even got to give the children at the Sharjah English School a sneak preview of my new picture book, The Snow Princess (which was very odd when the day was 35 degrees outside…)
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- Signing books at the festival, with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. The Apple Tart of Hope is a lovely book!
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- Back home having coffee in my lovely Sharjah English School mug! And you can see my henna painting, and the amber bracelet I bought in the souk, too!
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- Evening view across the creek. Sharjah is built around a beautiful man-made lagoon.
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- Gorgeous henna painting – usually done for weddings and parties, I love it.
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- A camel! The only one I saw – but I did buy my husband a chocolate camel as a souvenir!