A Selection of Rashmi's Books
Videos:
Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Type of Artist:
Assembly-style talks, workshops, readings
SCHOOL EVENTS
The ‘Never’ picture books:Expect dino-shaped antics in this fun session on the exuberant ‘Never’ series, starting with the award-winning Never Show a T-Rex a Book. Touching on big themes covering everything from reading for pleasure and loving learning to STEM and art.
Yes You Can, Cow!: Meet Cow, the star of Hey Diddle Diddle. The show must go on but Cow is terrified about jumping over the moon. In this interactive session on growth mindset, we’ll look at empathy, courage, and the power of YET.
Dreaming up stories:Imaginations switched on! We’ll look at spectacular story mountains and the ingredients of a juicy story before doing a create-your-own-character activity.
Heroes, Hope and Changing the World:Meet real-life heroes and world-changers in this eye-opening and uplifting session based on How To Be Extraordinary and How To Change the World (and Good News for Years 4+). A look at activism, teamwork, and what makes us all extraordinary.
Where Ideas Come From:An intro to how I became a writer and where I get my ideas for factual books as well as fictional ones. Packed with writing tips and snippets and sneaky peeks from a range of my books.
All sessions include readings, a Q&A, and a challenge that students can try out in their classes.
FESTIVAL EVENTS/LIBRARY EVENTS
I offer festival events and multi-school events for library services based on my books, which cover all of primary. I can also talk about empathy and reading, reading for pleasure, being a writer, where ideas come from, and how books are made.
Details
Preferred age range:Years 1 to 6 (but happy to do short readings with Nursery/Reception)
Maximum number in any one session:
Up to 35 for workshops. No limit on numbers for assembly-style talks.
No of sessions per day:
Max 3 (2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. I can add in a short visit to Nursery or Reception if time allows).
Session Length:
Years 1-2 – 40 mins
Years 3-6 – 45 mins
Areas prepared to travel to:
Ideally South Bucks and London.
If expenses are covered and I can make it work within my schedule, I’ll travel anywhere easily accessible by train for schools and library services that are particularly enthusiastic.
Transport:
Train and taxi
Fees:
DBS/CRB:
No
Hold PLI (public liability insurance):
Yes
Website:
Twitter:
@RashmiWriting
Testimonials:
“Rashmi’s humour, energy and sheer joy of storytelling were enchanting. She had the audience enthralled at her sold out session in this year’s Stepping Into Stories – Herne Hill Kids Lit Fest. We had wonderful feedback from parents and lots and lots of seriously inspired kids!’
Mo O’Hara, Festival Coordinator, Stepping Into Stories HHKL Fest
“Rashmi was just brilliant. She knew exactly how to talk to the children, keeping it amusing and interesting despite difficult topics such as activism and disinformation. Her talks were informative and thought provoking and when telling the children stories of people's great achievements, she was truly inspirational. The boys all reacted with enthusiasm and interest and were talking about her ideas all afternoon. Fabulous.”
Anna Elson, Librarian, Caldicott School
“Rashmi delivered two sessions for Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service for World Book Day 2022, speaking to an audience of 500 children and their teachers each time. Rashmi prepared her material well and was easy to communicate beforehand and well in advance about the arrangements, technical details for her background powerpoint and further details on how the sessions would work. Her talk was engaging, fun and she created a good rapport with her large audience, and coped effortlessly the barrage of questions at the end...”
Gillian Harris MBE, Head of Tower Hamlets School Library Service
“Rashmi came and shared her experiences of being an author and our children were so enthused and inspired. She led three assemblies delivering to from Year 1 all the way through to Year 6, adapting the delivery according to the age and understanding of the children in the room. The emphasis on collaboration and hard work which goes into making a book was really well received. Rashmi is an excellent public speaker and one of the triumphs of the day was answering the myriad of questions which were fired at her! We will certainly be keeping in contact!”
Niall Dosad, Assistant Head Teacher, Colgrave Primary School
Other information:
Rashmi’s engaging and interactive events cut across fiction and non-fiction and cover all of primary. They explore big and important themes from reading for pleasure, STEM and art to empathy, teamwork, activism, and the power of YET. All events include a Q&A session and leave children inspired to discover and dream up stories and learn more about – and stand up for! – this amazing world that we live in.