Alison Murray

I am an author and illustrator of picture books, based in Glasgow. I've been illustrating and writing books now for over 10 years, with several published internationally. Some of my books have been longlisted and shortlisted by the UK Literary Association Award and I've had three books in the Scottish Bookbug bag. My first book Apple Pie ABC won the Charlotte Zolotow award for writing in a picture book.

My events are interactive. They involve: live drawing, getting the children to help illustrate the story, a reading of at least one of my picture books and a hands on art activity. I hope to give an insight into the what it's like to be an author and illustrator, to give the children insight into the creative process: where do ideas come from, the structure of stories, how images and picture work together to create new meaning. I hope to inspire the children to write and illustrate their own stories and give them some tools to help do that.

I am a qualified facilitator of philosophy with children and if this was of interest to schools could do a tester philosophy session using my picture books.