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Access to authors

This resource offers a route map to building impact through engagement with authors.

Type: Classroom resources, Training videos
Level: Silver, Gold
Audience: Additional Support Needs, Primary, Secondary
Key area: 2.3.5 Access to authors

Watch this short video to find out more about key area 2.3.5 Access to Authors. This is part of our series of webinar shorts, 5 to 10 minute training videos focusing on each key area of the Reading Schools framework.

This resource offers a route map for successful engagement with authors and author events, showcasing Scottish Book Trust programmes and how to build a sustainable approach to engaging learners with authors and other creative practitioners.

Building interaction with author events gradually, using a sustainable approach, ensures that any staff involved in planning and running author events in school don’t feel overwhelmed. It also ensures that pupils get the most out of the events, and are familiar with the format of author events and know what to expect.

Introduction

For schools applying for Silver and Gold Reading School accreditation, we expect schools to show evidence that they have given all learners the opportunity to engage with authors, poets’ illustrators, storytellers or other creative practitioners.

Scottish Book Trust offers a variety of part and fully funded programmes that will support you to do this and able you to evidence this engagement.

Our recommended pathway is as follows:

An author residency, which is a 10-week long project, might seem daunting if you are unfamiliar with author events, but regularly interacting with authors and getting familiar with events will ensure you feel confident engaging with authors and using events to support learning and reading for pleasure.

Our recommended pathway

Embed digital events: Authors Live On Demand

Scottish Book Trust has worked with BBC Scotland Digital Learning team for 10 years to bring top-name authors direct to schools as part of the Authors Live programme. All these events are recorded, and available to watch on Scottish Book Trust On Demand Library, which has 80+ author events to watch at any time. The On Demand Library is the ideal place to look for author events to share in class. Why not:

  • Browse with pupils to see which authors they recognise, and vote for one to watch
  • Watch a broadcast that is themed and relates to a class project or topic
  • Plan a festival of watching, watching events across the whole school or class over the course of a week
  • Create a cinema experience and watch one as a treat complete with popcorn, blankets and hot chocolate

These events are high quality, and cover a range of ages and interests. But they offer the chance for you to watch the event before sharing it with pupils – this is especially valuable if you have young people with additional support needs who might need to be prepared for unknown events or people. You can also prepare your pupils by researching themes or topics that relate to the broadcast, researching the author and reading their books.

Regularly attend digital events: tune into a live Authors Live broadcast

The next step in engaging with author events is to register to watch an Authors Live event live, rather than On Demand. There are around eight events broadcast each year during term time, covering primary to secondary level and interests. They usually take place at 11am on a weekday morning. Find out about the next broadcast on the Scottish Book Trust website, and register to receive the streaming link to access the broadcast live.

You can still prepare pupils, researching the author but also preparing questions to Tweet to @BBCScotlandLearning and @ScottishBkTrust. The question might be asked live on air!

These events are a great way to connect with schools across Scotland also tuning in, but are also a way for pupils to access and engage with authors you might not be able to bring into school, such as an international or London-based author.

Run a one-off event: Use Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour

Once pupils are familiar with author events, and are keen and excited for them, it is time to bring an author, poet, illustrator or storyteller into your school. The best way to do this initially is by applying to be part of the Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour. The tour brings authors into school for fully funded author events. There are four tours across Scotland each year, covering different parts of Scotland. In recent years, these have run digitally as well as in-person.

This is a great way to bring authors into school in a supported way, with resources and key contacts at Scottish Book Trust to help you run the event. This is also a great tour to apply for if you have limited budget, as all events are fully funded, and if you are working with a targeted group of young people, Scottish Book Trust will work with you and the author to adapt the event – whether this be for pupils with additional needs or to engage reluctant readers.

Run your own one-off or series of author events: Using Live Literature

If you are ready to take the next step and are keen to plan your own, choose your own practitioner and work with them, then the Live Literature programme is for you.

Live Literature part-funds and fully funds author visits to schools and other community settings across Scotland. You might be looking to plan an in-person visit, or an online book chat or virtual visit, and Live Literature allows the flexibility for this.

To apply for Live Literature, search the author database to find an author to work with. The practitioner must be resident in Scotland and have agreed to Scottish Book Trust code of conduct. Choose someone who will engage with and interest your pupils – it can link to a project, theme or book used in school. If you find the choice of 800 authors a little overwhelming, we have some guidance to help you use the directory.

You apply for Live Literature funding months before the event is due to happen, so remember to factor this into your planning! You can apply for as many events as you like, from one for the school to one for each class, or a series of events for a targeted group. Have a project or event in mind, then apply easily through the online form.

Run an author residency: Live Literature Residency

By this stage, you are familiar with the positive impact author events can have, you feel confident arranging for practitioners to come into school, perhaps you watch Authors Live regularly, and pupils love engaging with a variety of writers or illustrators. Then the next step is to plan and apply for an author residency. The Live Literature programme offers 13 fully-funded author residencies each year: 10 for mainstream settings and 3 for additional support need settings.

The residencies are a longer project, with an author coming into school or your setting regularly for a number of sessions (10+) across a term. The programme offers a range of support, as well as training for staff to ensure you and your pupils get the most out of your project and the visits from the author.

This is a much more substantial project, and will require thorough planning and timetabling. But the enjoyment and confidence pupils can get from it, as well as the skills they will develop by working on a longer project is worth the investment.

How to evidence?

Finally, if you are wondering how to record all this amazing work to submit as part of your Reading Schools accreditation, the easiest way to evidence engagement with any author event – whether that is watching an On Demand Authors Live or hosting a school residency – is to take photographs. Nothing beats the smile that pupils get when seeing their favourite author, or getting involved in an event, or even taking photos after showing that spark and desire to go away and read (perhaps you all go to the library following the event to request that authors books?).

You can also photograph work pupils produce during the event or work produced after. If you tweet any questions to @ScottishBkTrust or specific authors, remember to save those either as links or a screen shot as evidence of engagement.

Other types of evidence that will add massively to your submission are quotes from the pupils. Ask them what they thought of the event, of the author, or how they felt about the activities.

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