Elle McNicoll ✍🏻📚
@BooksandChokers
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ND. Author. Agent: @LaurieEmTweets Winner of Blue Peter & Overall Waterstones Children's Book Prize, 21. Emmy nominated #AKindOfSpark streaming on BBC iPlayer!
North London and Edinburgh
Joined March 2018
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As an autistic kid, I loved drama. I thought I was a broken neurotypical as I struggled with people, and then thought I was a bad autistic because I liked imaginary worlds over STEM.
Today it hit me again that we really did make a show about autistic girls, with autistic actors.
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GOT SOME NEWS, YOU GUYS!
🍾
Elle McNicoll's A Kind of Spark will be brought to UK screens in a live action series, following a partnership with BBC Children's and 9 Story Media.
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The Blue Peter Book Award has ended. As a winner, I'm sad. It gave children a vote and a voice and it was accessible to children who are not often included in literary spaces.
The closure has led to me deciding to do something very stupid.
I'm thinking of starting a prize.
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It all started with a SPARK!!
Trailer for
#akindofspark
, coming to UK viewers on the 31st of March on BBC IPlayer and BYUtv in April.
So glad to finally share this with you all
Coming to BBC IPlayer,
@cbbc
and BYUtv very soon!
Don't the cast look incredible? So proud of them
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I was told "people like that don't read books, let alone write them".
Today is the first day of shooting for A Kind of Spark: the TV Show.
I'm not just a novelist now, I'm a credited screenwriter.
No one tells me what I can and cannot be.
And now no one can tell my readers.
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I just said I'm a Neurodivergent author who writes for Neurodivergent children.
Live on Blue Peter.
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in regards to the story of the child being excluded from the school picture by the photo company, I want to gently offer something, as someone who was in 'special' classes as a student, and has been knowingly living with a neurodevelopmental disability for some time.
thread:
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Dad: People are starting to ask about your books while I'm out in the village, it's a bit disconcerting. I do want to have a bit of anonymity. I don't want them knowing where I live.
**This is the window display he has made HIMSELF for the front of the house.
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Please don't ask for free stuff/copies of my book. I worked really hard on both of them. This is my job. I have bills to pay and people to take care of.
"You can just send me a PDF" is also not a good response to being politely told I have no author copies to spare.
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All right!
Who would like to see some pictures from A Kind of Spark: TV?
I'm doing it regardless.
I also may have some moving pictures to show at some point soon.
In the meantime, we've got witch-hunters, we've got sisterhood, we've got a small village set in their ways...
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New Book Announcement!!
(And one I think some people have been waiting for)
KEEDIE, the official prequel to
#AKindofSpark
is coming in April 2024.
Available to pre-order now.
We're going back to Juniper!!
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disabled children. you excluded disabled children.
you erased them from the picture, don't erase them from your apology as well.
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Something made me sad last night
Josh and I went for date night in Canary Wharf and, as someone with generous cleavage, the dress was date night appropriate. Out-of-office attire, not-working-as-a-children's-author-right-now dress.
A woman at the next table gave me a dirty look
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Guys, we freakin' won!!! I just hugged
@sueperkins
Thank you, Broadcast Awards for awarding A Kind of Spark the Best Children's Programme!
This is for neurodivergent kids and adults EVERYWHERE!!!!
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Little announcement to make:
We're going back to Juniper!
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So I've been getting secretly interviewed about this and it's finally out.
Very emotional to see
#akindofspark
included in the list of the 100 Greatest Children's Books of All Time. It's the most recently published and I'm the youngest author there.
We're there. NDs are there!
Incredible news -
#AKindOfSpark
by
@BooksandChokers
has been included in
@BBC_Culture
's list of the 100 Greatest Children's Books of All Time, and is the most recently published book to be included on the list! ✨
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IT IS TIME
All episodes of A Kind of Spark are available on BBC iPlayer. I hope you love it. Please tell me if you do. Look out for hidden gems, just for readers. See if a cameo made it in. Look out for an end-of-credit scene in the final episode.
Link
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@ItsEmilyKaty
as adults, we have the power to go back & retrieve things we have forgotten. human error is easily accounted for. children have so little control in their lives, their schedules, their ability to leave/access situations.
just horrible. hope the likes were worth it for him.
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It's worrying me that a handful of young people have been in meetings/lunches with me recently and have said something along the lines of "sorry for trauma dumping" when they're just explaining their feelings.
You're not a burden for telling someone in your life your emotions.
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Ok, deep breath.
A Kind of Spark has been nominated for not one, but two Royal Television Society Awards. I'm so proud of the entire cast and crew, but especially of Lola who is sharing a category with Helena Bonham Carter!
We worked so hard on this show. Congrats to all!!
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Gentle reminder that some ND kids (including me) were physically/mentally punished for misunderstanding small things or making communication mistakes.
It makes some of us easy targets for abusers.
"You're not hurt, you misunderstood."
"That didn't happen, you imagined it."
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Well. This is it.
Tomorrow,
#AKindOfSpark
is on television.
I don't know what to say. All feelings were drained out of me at the premiere.
Just very proud of the cast. Especially our young cast. ND, LGBTQ and some of them acting for the first time.
This is your time.
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I don't want to do all of this again.
but ableism is everywhere. the government have dedicated their time to nurturing that already fat calf.
the nicest person you know is not the nicest to your autistic friend. we live in a different world. it's what 'autism' literally means.
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It's never not sad to see people in the BOOK INDUSTRY hold contempt for children's books and their authors.
I did an event once, there were authors of all genres and reading ages there and someone in "adult publishing" sneered at the arrival of a picture book author.
Cont'd.
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Just got some rather not good news from the doctor over the phone.
This account is moving to updates and RTs only for now and I won't be checking DMs. Some events are going to be cancelled also, I would imagine.
Bye for now,
Elle 🧡
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A Kind of Spark was published by a small press. No supermarkets or WH Smith. No anything, really, it came out in a lockdown when we were only allowed one walk a day.
But the ND community showed up. The booksellers showed up. The teachers did, too.
Readers showed up.
Thank you.
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Thank you, BBC Breakfast for having us on your sofa to talk about A Kind of Spark for
@cbbc
and BBC iPlayer!
I was shaking like a leaf.
Also, not that it matters, but I was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 9, autism later, but I didn't correct because I wanted to stay focused 🤣
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she still makes gentle phone calls to the other parents, requesting that they keep little Bryony's birthday on the down low so they don't have to invite "that child".
it runs so deep. it turns people into terrible contradictions. it's the dark matter in the pretty painting.
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I have a book coming out in five days. I just won a Royal Television Society Award for a show I co-wrote, based on my first book. I want to stay on Cloud 9.
but those books and stories? they come from somewhere. they don't come from thin air.
some of us know how this song goes.
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I can't begin to cover it all. "i'll pray for you" ones. the "stay away from my child" ones. the "there's just something off about her" ones. the "don't invite her, it'll just upset her" ones. the "she probably won't be able to report this" ones. the "who would believe her" ones.
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#LikeACharm
: Feb 2022!
Ramya is 12, dyspraxic and stuck in a new town: Edinburgh, to be exact. She doesn't think it has much going for it, until statues start moving and she learns witchcraft is real.
Seeing through glamour means Hidden Folk now seek her help. From an old evil.
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"Publishers are only interested in diverse books to be nice"
Babyyyy, I hate to tell you this, but publishers are into diverse books cos they make money and younger audiences demand it now. Diverse authors still get screwed over a lot, but they're not published out of niceness.
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I'm so proud of the cast and crew behind this incredible show, coming to BBC iPlayer at the end of the month.
Middle Grade adaptations hardly ever happen.
Autistic middle grade adaptations, written by, crewed by and starring autistic people?
That *never* happens.
Proud of us.
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The cost of autistic masking for autistic young people is high. Many develop negative relationships with sleeping, eating and self-medicating.
When people write to me to say the books/tv show help them to gently peel that mask off little by little?
I know how much that means.
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The BBC adapted my debut novel for television this year.
That's it. That's my 2022 in a nutshell.
Outstanding actors, amazing crew and people saying YES to ND artists and our stories.
You're going to love Lola, Georgia, Caitlin and Eve. They've worked wonders.
Happy New Year.
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you have no idea about ableism. if you're not disabled or ND.
oh, you might think you know. this isn't a criticism. it's not a failure on your part. you see someone called the R word (a common experience for those of us born in the 90s) and you say, "that's ableist."
correct.
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lots of things happening today but FIRST!!
today is World Autism Day, so to celebrate:
we're doing a giveaway of 10 lovely proofs of Some Like It Cold, YA Romance debut which focuses on beautiful, proudly autistic Jasper.
Out in October!
Comment below, will choose at random!
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SOMETHING MAGICAL ARRIVED IN THE POST TODAY!!!!!! 🧙♀️ 🪄 🧹
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Spark becoming a bestseller has settled something in me.
I will no longer be talking about being ND, unless it is within the context of my work.
Neurodiversity in kids publishing ✅
Tell us your trauma/why you're weird ⛔️
It's triggering and painful and I won't do it.
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The messages keep coming in and I will respond when I can, thank you so so much!!
And to the trolls jeering and saying we don't need more ND rep, I don't have time for you at present, my loves, I'm on TV at 16:45!
Plus, these are oh so heavy!!
🥳😘
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Them:
Books about ND people won't sell. Booksellers won't like them. There is no market. And those people don't write well enough. Kids wouldn't ever want to read about ND children. It's too much work. It's not relatable. It's not marketable. You can't do it.
Me:
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"Love your book, Elle, but that stuff would never happen now, don't worry."
shut up.
Parents offered class photo with no 'complex needs' pupils
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but it's so much more than that. it's so different to other kinds of bigotry, not that any kind can be interchanged with another. it's not worse or better, it's just oh so specific.
the kindest, sweetest, dearest little schoolmarm, who donates to charity and folds blankets?
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Gentle reminder that the autistic woman you're projecting all of your insecurities onto (she hates me, she's stuck up, she thinks she's better than all of us, she's self-obsessed, she's rude) is actually just trying to stay alive and survive social situations.
The more you know.
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Hello.
It's World Autism Day.
I'm an autistic author who has written two books with autistic heroines. Four ND characters overall. I've won a couple of awards and got to go on Blue Peter where I basically told live TV I'm Neurodivergent, something that took 25 years.
Cont.
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My friend died, gasping for air, alone. He was scared to go out & get groceries ten days before he died. He wore a mask & isolated away from his friends & family.
How DARE they. How DARE they now turn around and say that it was open to interpretation.
A curse on these monsters
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I don't have an office.
I don't own a printer.
I can't afford a desktop.
I don't have a writing desk. Or any desk.
These things are privileges, as are space & time. Please do not assume.
My book might be a bestseller, it might have won awards...
It was written on the floor.
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Some time ago, I wrote a story inspired by what it's like to be autistic. It's been made into a tv show. I stood firm about having autistic actors. I wrote a couple of episodes.
Now my part is done. Everything else has been decided by the production company 9Story and CBBC.
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Got my first royalty slip for Spark.
I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has bought it, especially if you did from a bookshop or if you got multiple copies.
I can now afford to get a family member into full-time therapy for their mental health.
Thank you.
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Signed
#AKindOfSpark
giveaway!
To celebrate the
@cbbc
launch of the show today at 6pm on the CBBC channel, I'm giving away a signed and personalised copy of AKOS! Like, share and comment to be entered. Winner will be chosen at random! Thank you and enjoy the show at 6pm! Elle x
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I really miss old Book Twitter. Feel really disconnected on here now.
Please say hi, book people. Might have to turn notifications on for book accounts, just to keep track of everyone.
I refuse to pay to be verified, lol.
Feel like I'm missing loads of people's good news.
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We interrupt the regular schedule of programming to remind people, or tell new followers, that an autistic love story is coming September 2024. I'm currently editing it.
Jasper is my most personal autistic character and I hope she can bring people courage, hope and feels.
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Autistics playing autistics, autistics behind the camera, general cast of neurodiverse people with speaking and non-speaking roles. Autistics playing neurotypicals.
I've cried after so many scary meetings, I've soul-searched and talked myself off ledges.
But we did it!
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Back to the woman at the table next to us, I forgive her. She's obviously in pain. I wish we could extend a bit of grace to each other and not lash out. I never think about what people wear or how their bodies look. I don't think calories should be on menus.
Live and let live.
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The official cover for KEEDIE, out 4th of April, 2024.
By the amazing
@kayaotic
of course
A prequel to A Kind of Spark, 13 year old Keedie is solving everyone else's school problems rather than her own.
Before Addie, there was Keedie!
Waterstones preorder link in tweet below:
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This will probably get lost in the flurry but thank you to every single person who has watched the show, binged the show, talked about the show
And especially, a big thank you to the autistics who have shouted out their love for the show
It was all for you.
So much love, guys!
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"She wasn't a pretty girl, even by the standards of the Inclusion Unit."
That's the line that stayed with me out of this whole mess.
I hope she grew up and avenged her own spirit.
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with what I'm wearing but this woman was obviously upset.
Cleavage in public always opens you up to people's opinions. I never care about other people's bodies but breasts always seem to bother people. It makes me sad.
Fashion is often the only thing that makes me feel good.
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This is an autistic led show about autistic characters who are fighting the good fight & staying true to who they are.
Autistic writer (me), neurodivergent cast and crew--getting this made has been an incredible journey and I've fought like hell.
Hope you'll stand with us, too!
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I just still can't believe this is real, it's so amazing!!!!
🥲💕
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What is the scene, moment or bit from a film that always makes you lose it completely?
For me, it's the Dad's face at the end of "Billy Elliot".
It absolutely destroys me every single time.
What's yours?
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Got some news, you guys...
@MacmillanKidsUK
#SomeLikeItCold
"She has crafted an unputdownable romance full of warmth and wit."
Elle McNicoll's (
@BooksandChokers
) début YA book, Some Like it Cold, will be published by
@MacmillanKidsUK
.
Read here:
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Dear Trolls who don't like the FM:
You are not the first to call me ableist slurs.
Congrats, your efforts are the same as eight year olds from twenty years ago. If I had an award for every time someone called me a retard, I'd be a multi-award winning author.
Oh, wait. I am. 🏴
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A Kind of Spark came out one year ago today.
Thank you to every single person who has made this little book soar.
Thank you to booksellers. Thank you to teachers. Thank you to bloggers.
Thank you most of all to neurodivergent readers. You came through for it. I knew you would.
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Just had to listen to so many horrid comments about why parks should not have to be inclusive of children using wheelchairs.
"We're not changing for a minority."
"You pay for it then."
Disabled children deserve to play. They are citizens, too. They deserve childhood, too.
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GIVEAWAY! UK ONLY!
Like, follow, retweet and comment to be in the running.
It would be awesome if this could go to a school or a young reader! The winner can have it personalised any which way they would like.
Closes on Thursday (19th) at 18:00!
#ShowUsWhoYouAre
New Edition
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GIVEAWAY FOR A SCHOOL!
I'll be at Waterstones Cambridge next Wed, the 16th, at 2pm. Need to get the word out so what way than launching the 1st
#LikeACharm
giveaway!
Like, retweet and comment the word "CAMBRIDGE" in order to be eligible. UK only and must go to a school!
Elle
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I was finally able to articulate something in an interview this morning. I was asked, as I always am, why I write books for ND kids and did I see myself in a book when I was younger.
And I was finally able to find the words I wanted, so I'm sharing them here:
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Two years ago to the day, I got this book in the post and this little note with it.
Life hasn't been the same.
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ANNOUNCEMENT AND COVER REVEAL!!!!
I am excited to share that A KIND OF SPARK will soon be reaching AMERICAN READERS with
@randomhousekids
! Meet Addie and her sisters on the 19th of October, 2021!
Pre-order link
Cover art and design by
@rowatree
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Also I've unearthed waaaaay too many author copies of my books so, even though twitter is a wasteland now, I'm going to do some book bundle giveaways at some point. First come first serve. Will maybe try this evening or tomorrow. Stay tuned, all eight people still on this site!
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Putting my ex-bookseller hat on for a moment to say, if you're going to go to bookshops tomorrow, you better behave. Bookselling is a highly romanticised job, but it's an extremely hard one. Let alone with a pandemic. Don't get in their space, don't back chat. Be nice & grateful.
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When people will ask why I've written a YA about an autistic girl and all of her feelings, I hope they remember that this is how many people see us. I was told, as a teen, I couldn't feel. Wouldn't feel. And it was meant with kindness.
After 20 years, I'm used to this. But why?
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All I wanted was to write a book that would mean something to readers who have always felt left out.
And to make sure people don't regret working with me. After years in the industry, being told that I wasn't a good fit...
This is a good day.
THIS. DOESN’T. HAPPEN.
It doesn’t happen to books by the BIGGEST names at the BIGGEST publishers.
It DEFINITELY doesn’t happen to tiny publishers working on inclusive books. UNTIL NOW.
BOOK. OF. THE. WEEK. DOUBLE.
A KIND OF SPARK is out now:
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I knew as soon as Lola's audition tape was sent to me that we had found our Addie. She blew me away.
What she has done for this character is nothing short of extraordinary.
All autistic characters in the show are played by autistic actors, and we have many ND cast and crew!
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Will still be writing Middle Grade for anyone who is worried about that, but yes. YA romance. Coming autumn 2024, UK and USA.
Lemme know if you'd be down for a proof when they're ready. Which won't be for a while but still!
Autistic girls fall in love and can be love interests!
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A KIND OF SPARK SEASON TWO IS COMING ON THE 26TH OF APRIL TO BBC IPLAYER AND TO THE USA ON THE 28TH!!!
*takes deep breath*
trailer is on my Instagram now.
love you, guys. see you back in Juniper. we've missed you.
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So, this weekend I travelled to my second ever in-person festival, cried in a bush because I was overwhelmed and intimidated, almost fell on a publicist, sprained one ankle, met some heroes, signed some books and talked about being an ND author and my work
10/10 would do again.
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Apropos of nothing, I said A Kind of Spark would be filmed with disabled and neurodivergent cast members, or it would not be filmed at all. Our cast and crew are a testament to the TALENT that disabled people have, in the arts. The best in the business.
It was non-negotiable.
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Publishing. I was told autistic people "don't read books, let alone write them". This was after I, as an autistic, said I wanted to see more neurodiversity in books and media, especially books and media aimed at children. Not a fun meeting.
Ah, well.
Maybe they were right.
Anyway it's been literal years and whenever I remember this I get pissed off all over again. What was your worst interview experience?
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Apropos of nothing, my 2nd book, Show Us Who You Are, is about an autistic girl and an ADHD boy who take on a selfish & cruel maniac and win the day. Good for ages 9+ and available in the UK, US, Netherlands and Italy.
ND kids saving the world. Felt like a good day to post 😇
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Tomorrow A Kind of Spark will be published in America.
On the left is me at 17. I lived in New York, on w35th street between 8th and 9th from age 17-19.
To know that this little book might just make it into some American readers' hands is a lot right now.
Good luck, Addie!
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My third book is out in days.
#LikeACharm
features a dyspraxic character, beyond rare in MG.
It's my first Dyspraxic heroine.
My first main character with learning difficulties.
I was diagnosed at 9 years old and so let's talk about it.
Let's talk about Dyspraxia or DCD.
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RAMYA IS BACK!!!!!
On the second of the second, in 2023 (2nd of Feb)!!
Published by
@_KnightsOf
, cover by
@kayaotic
and written by me.
A sequel to Like A Charm and featuring major twists, so please don't spoil if you have an ARC!!
Pre order here:
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"Your enthusiasm is lovely, but I've been in this business for a long time and there just isn't a market for books like that. Ok, maybe one every 20 years, but not much more. People like that don't read books, let alone write them."
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👀
Announcing new programming for
@CBBC
&
@CBeebiesHQ
!
⚽️ Football Academy returns
⛺️So Awkward: Kids Camp
📚
#AKindOfSpark
based on the novel by
Elle McNicoll (
@BooksandChokers
)
💙
#Bluey
- new series
...plus loads more new titles 👇
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They leave halfway through our meal. I feel really depleted and sad.
I love women. I love being a woman. I love fashion and dressing up. I do it for me but I always want other women to like it. A compliment from other women always feels amazing. I never want to upset anyone
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SECOND BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
Cora finds herself drawn to the Pomegranate Institute; a place that allows people to live forever as digital holograms. She thinks it's the best place in the world. The dead can live on & you never have to say goodbye!
But Pomegranate has its secrets...
** SHOW US WHO YOU ARE **
The second book by
@BooksandChokers
coming in March
A new gripping story by the author of one of the most celebrated children's fiction debuts of 2020
PRE-ORDER your copy:
@Waterstones
@BooksRound
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