Circus Maximus: Rivals on the Track came out in February and the photo that goes with this piece shows me at Waterstones 02 on Finchley Road, where the wonderful Sue, children's bookseller extraordinaire, has been a stalwart champion of the series, making both Race to the Death and Rivals on the Track her Book of the Month in store. It has been fantastic seeing so many photos from bookshops, libraries and classrooms all over the country, showing the window display kit my brilliant publishers Zephyr created for the launch. I confess I've got one in my classroom and I used it as backdrop when I spoke about the challenges of writing a sequel at my school's first ever all-day literary festival. Seeing that one of my pupils, Orla, had dressed up as Dido for the festival was honestly one of the highlights of my life.

I went back to Waterstones in March to do one of Sue's annual author talks for the boys of Sussex House School and have since been really busy with other school visits and talks, both in-person and online, for the likes of Castle Court School in Dorset, Cadishead Academy in Salford, The Mead Community School in Trowbridge, Queens' C of E Primary in Kew, Newton Prep in Battersea, Bromet Primary School in Hertfordshire and the Girls Friendly Society in Mile End. I also really enjoyed talking over Zoom to a group of children from the Inkpots Writing Workshops, in which we established firmly that Chocolate Cake is the Best Cake. I'm now having a bit of a hiatus while I work on finishing the first draft of Circus Maximus III, due out next year (watch this space for cover reveal and title) but there is lots on the immediate horizon to look forward to this summer, not least appearing at the Hay Festival on Thursday June 2nd (SOMEBODY PINCH ME) and then Clevedon Literary Festival on Saturday June 11th followed by the Chalke Valley History Festival on Monday June 20th. After that, I'm hoping I'll have earned a holiday....