News - Cath Howe

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 weekly.

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.

Image © States of Jersey

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.

Image © North Somerset Teachers' Book Award 2021

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.