Author Events (and other goings on)
Author Visits and Festival

Joyce regularly visits schools and takes part in festivals. She offers 3-4 sessions in a day and is happy to adapt to a school timetable.

She shows the different stages of a book and talks about where ideas come from. And of course she reads stories. The main object is to help the children with their own ideas. She also does bespoke workshops and talks to adult audiences.

She is the author of LOVE A PICTURE BOOK published by BOOKTRUST and sent to every primary school in the UK.

Her fees are in line with the Society of Authors guidelines, £350 for a day, £150 for half a day, £100 for single session, plus travel and expenses.

Mentoring and Advice

Joyce receives regular requests via this website for advice about writing, how to get published and so on. She usually suggests buying a copy of CHILDRENʼS WRITERS AND ARTISTS YEAR BOOK, which is full of valuable information. She also recommends writing courses, especially the Arvon Foundation where she has been a tutor on creating picture books with her daughter Polly. More exotically, the Skyros Centre in Greece where she taught creative writing to adults for 10 sessions over 10 years. Wonderful place.

Joyce Dunbar teaching in Skyros


In The Picture

From 2005-2008 Joyce was on the steering committee of SCOPEʼS IN THE PICTURE campaign, with the aim of including disabled children in picture books. Joyce is herself a lip-reader, though few people would guess this on meeting her. Together with Jane Ray she produced a book about a deaf child called MOONBIRD. This has been staged in Singapore, France, Italy, Tennessee and Australia. For performance rights please contact Joyceʼs agent.

Three titles by Joyce are on the SIGNED STORIES website told in Sign Language - SHOE BABY, TWINKLE TWINKLE SQUIGLET PIG, AND MOONBIRD.

She is also the author of MUNDO & THE WEATHER-CHILD, a novel about a deaf boy and his imaginary companion. This was runner up for THE GUARDIAN AWARD in 1985.

She is a supporter of INCLUSIVE minds, a project set up by Alexander Strick & Beth Cox , to promote the inclusion of disabled children in books. See: www.inclusiveminds.com

Librarian Benjamin Farr, Tanglin School , SINGAPORE
Librarian Benjamin Farr, Tanglin School , SINGAPORE

Moongarden
The moongarden, from Singapore's I Theatre production of MOONBIRD,
directed by Brian Seward, 2008


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Image © Andy Davison


Jessy Reads: Twinkle, Twinkle Squiglet Pig by
Joyce Dunbar & Tim Hopgood www.plasticrosaries.com
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