Type of Artist:
(With a Primary School Teacher and Mental Health Champion background)
SCHOOL VISITS, SKYPE SESSIONS, LIBRARY VISITS, LITERARY FESTIVALS, BOOK SIGNINGS,
TRAINING, LECTURES, SEMINARS.
SCHOOL VISITS:Clare is passionate about children’s literacy and loves using her teaching experience to run events in schools. Her books work particularly well for workshops about character, plotting and enjoyment for writing. They also link well with the following themes; empathy, space, pirates, biscuits, food, families, memories, dementia, cancer, traditional tales and mental health. Clare is the mental health champion at her school and is particularly keen to promote children’s well-being through storytelling and literacy.
SKYPE SESSIONS:Clare is currently offering Skype sessions for schools. Contact AAUK for details
LIBRARY VISITS:Whether you are looking to organise a public event or something for schools, Clare is experienced running library events for children and their families.
LITERARY FESTIVALS:Clare loves all opportunities to work with young readers and their families. Her workshops and craft activities are always fun and interactive.
BOOK SIGNINGS:Clare is available for book signings, storytelling and crafts.
TRAINING, LECTURES, SEMINARS:As a primary school teacher, senior leader and published children’s author, Clare can offer valuable training for teachers and trainee teachers, specifically about how stories and storytelling can be used to support emotional wellbeing.
3-11yrs
Flexible
Flexible
Flexible
South West, including Bristol, Devon, Cornwall.
Particularly keen to visit schools outside of this area and so am prepared to travel.
Car at 45p per mile, train.
DBS
PLI held.
** Further titles with Quarto, Little Tiger Press, Andersen, MacMillan, Nosy Crow, Big Cat Collins and Maverick coming soon**
THE TIDE (2019)
Illustrated by Ashling Lindsey and published with Little Tiger Press in May 2019. The Tide will also be available in French, German, Spanish, Finnish, Chinese and American.
Grandad’s memories are like the tide. Sometimes near and full of life. Other times far away and distant. Despite the challenges one thing is for certain. The girl loves her Grandad and her Grandad loves her. A story to help families live well with dementia.
“A beautifully illustrated story, helping to explain and give greater understanding of dementia to young people.” – The Youth Engagement team – Alzheimer’s Society.
KING PONG (2019)
Illustrated Kelly Breemer , published by Maverick Books: King Pong is the bravest, strongest gorilla in the jungle but there’s just one problem… he’s never EVER had a bath!
THE UNDERWEAR WOLF (2019)
Illustrated Letizia Rizzo , published by Maverick Books. Stitch is a werewolf who loves to knit, but there’s only so many knitted scarves one wolf can wear. He needs a pack! One full moon, he finds one.
HOW RUDE! (2018)
Illustrated by Olivier Tallec, published by Words & Pictures (Quarto), How Rude will have you laughing with every page turn! When Duck shows up at Dot’s tea party, Dot has no idea what is about to happen or just how rude a guest Duck will prove to be. From licking sandwich fillings and throwing away the bread, to spitting tea everywhere, Duck just gets ruder and ruder! But how will Dot react? A simple yet hilarious story with an important message and touching ending.
KING CARL AND THE WISH! (2018)
llustrated by Maria Pessarrodona and publishing with Maverick Books in August 2018 (early reader, blue): King Carl is at the fair. He hurls a hoop and wins one wish from a wizard! What will King Carl wish for?
JIM AND THE BIG FISH! (2018)
Illustrated by Patricia Reagan, publishing August 2018 with Maverick Books (early reader, yellow):
Jim wants to catch a fish, but all he gets is shoes and socks! Will he ever get a big fish?
BISCUIT BLAST OFF! (2017)
Illustrated by Sophia Touliatou, published by Maverick Books (early reader, purple)
AERODYNAMICS OF BISCUITS (2015)
Illustrated by Sophia Touliatou, published by Maverick Books: Captain Sneaky McSqueaky and his crew of pirate mice are trying to get to the moon to steal cheese, but to get there they need some help from Oliver …and his biscuits!
THE PERFECT SHELTER - (May 2020) illustrated by Åsa Gilland, published Little Tiger Press; A beautiful, powerful and uplifting story, exploring the complicated emotions we feel when someone we love is diagnosed with cancer.
POO IS THAT YOU?! (August 2020) illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne
Coming soon:
SIT IN! (2020) llustrated by Julia Seal and publishing with Collins Big Cat in May 2020 (early reader, pink)
POD DIGS A PIT (2020) llustrated by Michael Emmersen and publishing with Collins Big Cat in May 2020 (early reader, pink)
CHAT, CHAT, CHAT! (2020) llustrated by Valeria Abatazoglu and publishing with Collins Big Cat in May 2020 (early reader, red)
SCRAP RAT! (2020) llustrated by Irene Montano and publishing with Collins Big Cat in May 2020 (early reader, yellow)
FLY SECRETS (2020) llustrated by Andrew Pagram and publishing with Collins Big Cat in May 2020 (early reader, orange)
PEGS AND SOCKS (2020) publishing with Collins Big Cat in Sept 2020 (early reader, pink)
NOT JUNK! (2020) publishing with Collins Big Cat in Sept 2020 (early reader, red)
WILL IT SINK? (2020) publishing with Collins Big Cat in Sept 2020 (early reader, red)
ROOTS AND SHOOTS (2020) publishing with Collins Big Cat in Sept 2020 (early reader, red)
“From the moment that Clare began her storytelling with the children, they were transfixed! Her passion behind her books is there for all to see and her storytelling ensured all our children wanted to be authors themselves! Truly captivating, thank you Clare.”
Kerry Bargewell
Key stage 1 Lead
“Local author Clare Helen Welsh has been a real inspiration to us all today! Key Stage One had lots of fun designing characters based on her books and Key Stage Two found out about the journey that she had from her initial ideas to becoming a published author. We even had a go at testing how aerodynamic a range of biscuits are! :)”
“Super! The children enjoyed the activities and they fitted well with the introduction to story writing. Perfect for reception children. Their ideas can be further developed back in the classroom. Hopefully some children will continue their thinking and writing.”
“All children were totally engaged and enthralled throughout the workshop. Clare was fantastic with the children, bringing plenty of props to excite and provoke creativity from the group. The children were well guided and fully involved throughout the session.”
“The workshop was amazing! The children were engaged from start to finish. Such a great way to get such young children to believe in themselves as writers! The children haven’t stopped talking about where they are going to travel in their rocket!”
“We had the great pleasure of hosting Clare at our dual use library at the Estover Tor Bridge campus when we celebrated Empathy Day in June 2019. Clare’s lovely, funny picture book “How Rude” was the perfect launch pad to reflect on feelings and friendship in a humorous context with very young children from the Nursery and Reception classes. They were completely engaged by Clare and the book’s message around honesty and rudeness and absolutely loved participating in the role play. As an experienced teacher Clare was able to pitch her session just right for her audience and kept everything flowing beautifully throughout, I cannot recommend her highly enough!”
Julia Hale, School Libraries Advisor, Plymouth
Examples of sessions
Aerodynamics of Biscuits(Maverick Books, 2015) Solve the mystery of the missing biscuits, make biscuit rockets and superimpose them into space with a green screen app. Also design your own sneaky story character. STEM links.
How Rude!(Quarto, 2018) An interactive introduction to manners, kindness and empathy. Perfect for group storytelling, with tea party props and puppet crafts. Learn to illustrate a character’s feelings through their eyes ala Tallec.
The Tide(May 2019) Sand art and beach crafts to support a story that touches on empathy, memory and builds intergenerational friendships.
Coming soon!
How Selfish!(March 2020) illustrated by Olivier Tallec, published by Quarto; a follow up to How Rude! This is a hilarious but heart-warming story featuring two characters (Dot and Duck) and a stick - There are endless opportunities for 'stick' crafts and it's a great text for interactive storytelling and performances!
The Perfect Shelter!(April 2020) illustrated by Asa Gilland
Poo! Is that you?! (August 2020) illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne, published by MacMillan; Lenny the Lemur is on holiday in the Amazon rainforest. He's just settling down for a nice snooze, when a very yucky smell wafts past... Poo-ie! What or who could it be? Learn about sloths, skunks, stinkbugs and more in the whiff-tastic Poo! Is That You?