Meet children’s authors and learn to love books!

It is that time of year when school is out and the endless days of the summer holidays lie ahead. For children the thought of a long holiday might fill them with joy – for parents and grandparents the sensation might be more of how to fill time and supply entertainment. We can help!

We are hosting four morning online sessions for families or holiday guardians for you to join online, which will also be available afterwards as a recording, with an opportunity to listen to a children’s author.

The author will talk about how they write a book, how they do research, give the children some tips on writing a story and of course do some readings from their books. Children will be invited to ask questions of the authors.

The session will stimulate children and young people’s interest in reading and to be creative with their own stories.

Registration is free and part of our charitable outreach.

HA Quills Chat with author Tony Bradman

Tuesday 28 July, 10am
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Tony Bradman is an award-winning writer of many children’s books with a particular focus on diversity and history. He has written for children of all ages, including novels, poetry and picture books. Tony has written a lot of historical fiction which has been very successful with children and in schools, particularly his historical-adventure series Viking Boy, Anglo-Saxon Boy, Roman Boy and the latest Greek Boy (Walker). He also came up with the idea of the highly successful Scholastic series Voices, a series of novels that about hidden communities in Britain’s written by authors such as Patrice Lawrence, Bali Rai and Benjamin Zephaniah. Tony’s other publications include Operation Banana and Bruno and Frida (Barrington Stoke), which won the Young Quills Award 2023 in the 7-10 years category, as well as The Digits (OUP) picture-book series featuring a group of number friends that make maths fun.

HA Quills Chat with author Matt Wainwright

Thursday 30 July, 10am
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Matt Wainwright is a writer based in London writing adventurous historical fiction for children. His first book was Out of the Smoke, a young adult historical adventure inspired by the work of Victorian philanthropist and child welfare campaigner Lord Shaftesbury. Matt’s most recent novel is the award-nominated Through Water and Fire, a Tudor adventure for young people. Set in the turbulent world of Tudor England and the Reformation, it is a dramatic story of friendship, betrayal, lies and secrets.

HA Quills Chat with author Barbara Henderson

Tuesday 4 August, 10am
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Barbara Henderson is an award-winning author of Scottish historical fiction for children. Her children's novels are Fir for Luck (about the Highland Clearances), Punch (set in Victorian Scotland), Wilderness Wars (an eco-thriller), Black Water (a smuggling novella featuring Robert Burns), The Siege of Caerlaverock (about the Scottish Wars of Independence), The Chessmen Thief (inspired by the Lewis Chessmen and Vikings) and The Reluctant Rebel (about the Jacobites). The Siege of Caerlaverock won a Young Quills Award from the Historical Association.

Barbara is a qualified English and Drama teacher and loves to deliver lively and interactive literary school visits to schools all over Scotland.

HA Quills Chat with author Ally Sherrick

Thursday 6 August, 10am
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Ally is an award-winning children’s author of stories full of history, mystery and adventure. Black Powder, her debut novel about a boy caught up in the Gunpowder Plot, won the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award. Other titles include The Buried Crown, a wartime adventure with a twist of Anglo-Saxon myth and magic, The Queen’s Fool, a tale of treachery and treason set at the court of King Henry VIII and Vita and the Gladiator, the story of a young girl’s fight for justice in the high-stakes world of London’s gladiatorial arena. Ally’s latest book Rebel Heart is about two young people caught up in the tumultuous English Civil Wars.

Ally received an Honorary Fellowship from the Historical Association in 2025 in recognition of her work to promote a love of history in young audiences.