Authors Online Profile
Laura Mucha | Poet, Author & Performer
Laura Mucha is a poet, author and performer who works with children and young people of all ages. Her writing has won multiple international awards and been featured on TV, radio and public transport, as well as in hospitals, hospices, prisons, books, magazines and newspapers around the world. Her books have been described as ‘stunningly original’ by BookTrust, ‘fantastic’ by the Daily Mail and ‘a must for every school library and classroom’ by The School Librarian. Laura is a psychology graduate and ex-lawyer, works with world-leading experts to write about attachment theory and child mental health, and is Author-in-Residence in the Department of Public Health & Primary Care, University of Cambridge.
Laura’s poetry collections, Dear Ugly Sisters and Being Me are aimed at the 6+ age group. Her picture book Rita’s Rabbit and Porridge Please (forthcoming) are 3+. Her non-fiction books Welcome to Our Table and Celebrate! are aimed at 3-8 and 5-11 respectively. And her non-fiction books, Love Factually / We Need to Talk About Love / Please Find Attached work well for KS4 students as well as adult audiences.
Online Introduction
What I can do for you
I love running highly interactive workshops online – ideally cowriting, editing and performing a poem. This very active way of learning ensures that every student feels welcome and valued, helps even the most reluctant writers and readers get involved, demystifies the more nebulous process of editing, and leaves students with a huge sense of achievement at the end.
For KS2 and older, I recommend workshops of 90 minutes. I am very happy working with larger groups and multiple year groups, but need teacher support in collating the ideas and words that students generate, and helping me count votes in the co-writing process.
For EYFS and KS1, I think shorter sessions of around 25 minutes are better, and generally suggest a combination of a picture book read through with an interactive poetry performance.
Examples of my online work
Testimonials
“For our Book Week theme ‘Potpourri of Poetry’ Laura took a captivating session on poetry with students of Years 4 to 6. She made the online session interactive, fun, and engaging for all. Students were inspired by how she read her own poems and included their ideas to build additional stanzas. Students were thrilled to see how she planned, brainstormed ideas, words and took them on a writing journey, while keeping their enthusiasm high. It was an inspirational session that has ignited our budding poets!”
The British School, New Delhi, India.
“For World Book Day this year, we invited Laura to run a number of virtual sessions with our children, at Lanercost C of E Primary School, throughout the day. Each session was tailored towards the age of the children and activities were carefully selected. The sessions were brilliant- engaging, energetic and exciting! The children crafted poems, listened to poetry and stories and took an active role in the editing process! We would love to work with Laura again in the future both virtually or in person!”
Sian Kellock, Lanercost C of E Primary School