News - Cath Howe

On Sunday 10th October, Cath was a panelist on 'How To Be Happy' at the Cheltenham Literary Festival 2021. This event was curated by The Week Junior magazine, and panelists gave tips and tricks for dealing with difficulties, practicing being positive, and helping you help yourself be happier. The panel was hosted by Anna Bassi, and Cath spoke alongside authors Matthew Syed and Anna McNuff.

For Empathy Day on 10th June 2021, Cath wrote an article for 'The Bookseller' magazine. It was about children’s mental health and the need for a sharper focus on empathy in the books we share with children and our approaches in the classroom.
You can read the article here.

Image from @PrimarySchoolBC

How To Be Me won the online vote as #PrimarySchoolBookClub selection for April 2020. Cath was interviewed in a Twitter Q&A.

Cath continued her work with EmpathyLab by writing a Short scene called 'The Dragon and the Safety Officer' in April 2020. She was interviewed about how to use this script with a class, which you can check out here.

Image from EmpathyLab

Cath's third novel, How To Be Me, was published on the first of April 2021. Find out more about it here.

In March 2021, Cath led a “Teachers as Writers” event at St Mary’s in Strawberry Hill for the full year group of 2nd year teacher trainees. This encouraged them to explore childhood memories through writing prompts and images.

Image © St Mary's University

Image © SCWBI

On 27th February 2021, Cath was a panelist as part of the OH MG! A Weekend of Middle Grade events. The event was titled 'AGE APPROPRIATE MG: What are the boundaries of writing MG?'. This was run by SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).

Cath runs a continuous project called A Real Friend in workshops, in which friendship is described by children in their own words.
New quotes are released on her twitter.

You can see all the tweets in the project so far here, and read about it here.

As part of Wokingham Children’s Book Festival, Cath ran online author visits consisting of an online workshop and talk for 30 primary classes, entitled "How to Use Objects as Inspirations for Writing".

On the 7th October 2020, Cath ran an online creative writing workshop for CWIG and the Society of Authors, entitled “Mining The Child Inside”.

Image © Malden Manor Primary & Nursery School

Cath works with small literacy groups each week at Malden Manor school to boost reading and writing, sponsored by Pupil Premium Funding.

Cath runs a regular autumn Speaking/project and Festival at Fern Hill School to boost confidence and encourage learning by heart; Fernspeak

Cath ran a writing workshop for student teachers at St Mary's, University of London in Spring 2020.

In early 2020, Ella on the Outside was chosen as the set book for an English reading project for pupils at Scuola Media “Don Palmas” in Elmas, Sardinia. Although the planned author meeting on a London school trip was cancelled due to Covid-19, Cath used email correspondence and a personal video to keep in touch as they wrote reviews of the book.

Cath directed Festival workshops on playscript-writing for age 9-12’s as part of Herne Hill Festival of Stories with CWISL in February 2020.

In December 2019, Cath gave a talk for MA publishing students at Kingston University.

Image is © Kingston University, 2018.

Image © Stewart Turkington

Cath ran a sell-out workshop for young writers at the Wokingham Children’s Book Festival in Autumn 2019.

In September 2019, Ella on the Outside was chosen for Reading Well collection to support children’s mental health.

You can read more about the collection here.

"Ella on the Outside" was one of the books selected for the Read for Empathy Collection 2019. Cath is a great fan of this initiative.

More details can be found here at the Empathy Lab website.

In June 2019, Cath wrote an article on the importance of Empathy in Children's Books for Tes (formerly the Times Educational Supplement) about the role books play in equipping young people with strong empathy skills and how this can be a major engine for social change.
You can read it here.

Ella on the Outside was shortlisted for the first ever Channel Island Book Awards in 2019.

In November 2018, "Ella on the Outside" was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2019.

Ella on the Outside won the North Somerset Teacher's Book Award in November 2018, in the Moving on Category.
Read the blog of the event here on their website.

In September 2018, Cath wrote a guest blog for Bloomsbury about Let's Perform, on her journey from English Teacher to Children's Author.
You can read it here.

Ella on the Outside was listed as one of the Guardian's Best New Children's Books for Summer 2018.

In July 2018, Cath wrote a guest blog for the Nosy Crow website on the inspiration behind Ella on the Outside.

You can read it here.

In Spring 2018, the London Grid for Learning launched a flagship resource written by Cath, called "Space Adventures". This is a cross-curriculum project to stimulate children's maths and science reasoning, and has since been shortlisted for a BETT award.

Cath has also designed a Poetry Workshop for LGFL, with poetry activities for primary children and lots of creative tips!

Cath is a Writer in Residence at Kingston University Writing school, focusing on writing for and with children and building links with the creative community in Kingston.

A Writing for Children course for adult writers taught by Cath and fellow Writer in Residence Sue Wallman took place in 19 September 2016 as part of the Short Course program at Kingston University.

In 2015 Cath and Sue ran a sell out workshop for young writers aged between 8 and 12, called "Storycrunch" as part of Kingston Connections. They used props, music and images with short writing exercises to stimulate ideas.