AUTHOR VISITS
GRAPHIC NOVEL TALKS, AND COMIC WORKSHOPS WITH METAPHROG
In-person or virtual. Please get in touch for details.
We love to travel for author visits. Our events have proved extremely popular and we have delivered over 700 sessions in the UK and abroad. We were Writers in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015, Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy 2013-17, and Graphic Novel Authors in Residence with Glasgow Life at Holyrood Secondary 2018-19. In 2014 we also ran the Comics Lab, a weekend course on comics for adults for the Scottish Book Trust. We have appeared at numerous festivals, conventions and conferences, schools, universities and libraries.
We are on the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature database:
https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors/metaphrog
https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors/sandra-marrs
https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors/john-chalmers
Talks:
To children or adults about how we became comic creators and how we work together as a writer/illustrator team, with Q & A and book signing.
Masterclasses:
A more in-depth talk on the medium of comics for more advanced levels, including a look at our own working methods.
Workshops:
For children and adults. These sessions include an illustrated talk, and the participants also get to create their own characters and comics. We provide support, professional advice and feedback. The content can be varied to accommodate different age groups, or be more workshop oriented. With Q & A and book signing.
Audience:
We can adapt the content of our sessions to suit different age groups: children (8-12, 12-16), young adults and adults. Our preference is for large audiences (e.g. assemblies for schools) but we also enjoy talking to smaller groups or classes, and speaking to older children.
Content:
We love to show the process involved in making graphic novels, and how we go about creating our own books and comic stories, how we adapted fairy tales into graphic novels, as well as revealing some of the secrets of character design and story development. Our talks and workshops are illustrated, and we like to finish up by showing short trailers.
Session lengths:
A session usually lasts for one hour, or a period. We are happy to deliver one-off sessions, or strings of several sessions where participants can get to develop their own projects and ideas.
Fees
Our fees are in accordance with the Scottish Book Trust rates (session costs plus expenses). Please get in touch for details. We are part of the Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature Scheme and members of the Society of Authors.
Notable events:
The Edinburgh International Book Festival; The National Library of Scotland; Scottish Universities’ International Summer School; Glasgow Film Festival; Glasgow School of Art; Wigtown Book Festival; Aye Write!; Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery; a Comics Lab for Scottish Book Trust; Gordonstoun and many Primary and Secondary Schools. Further afield, we have toured Guernsey, visited Helsinki and Eindhoven International Schools, Battery Park City School in Manhattan and have gone to many conventions and festivals in the US and Europe.
ASK US TO VISIT:
metaphrog@metaphrog.com,
TESTIMONIALS
Wow! What a fantastic day!! It was lovely to see the children so engaged, and the work presented at an interesting level for them.
Miss Richards, St Andrew’s Junior
Thank you again for the inspiring talk and workshops you gave to our students (11-17 years) at the ISE Secondary Division! Both students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. Your presentation even got the most reluctant student to draw, and we saw many surprising characters. It was indeed a great experience for all to learn how to develop a cartoon character like Louis. We all adore him, he is so sweet and gentle!
Joy Bowker, Head of English Department, Renske Laheij & Majola Slot, Librarians
I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop and I know my pupils did too. I found it fascinating finding out about the whole creative process involved.
Paul Manship, teacher and author
Thank you again for the fantastic workshop you gave to the S2 pupils yesterday at Lornshill Academy – your presentation was very inspirational and was pitched just right for the students. It was lovely to meet you both and I thoroughly enjoyed the event and learned so much. Many thanks.
Caroline Gunn, Clackmannanshire Libraries
Metaphrog enthralled children from Year 7 at Fitzalan High School with a lively demonstration creating comic book characters and effects. All the children created their own cartoons and enthusiastically shared their drawings which showed an impressive range of humour and skills. We’d love Metaphrog to come back and visit again.
Heather Noble, Children’s Library Services Manager, Cardiff Central Library
Metaphrog were back with us through popular demand…All of the sessions were full and the kids really enjoy it. Amazing stuff! Check out the Louis books, WE’RE ALL FANS!
Anne Louise Anglim, West Dunbartonshire Libraries
Thank you again for the wonderful workshop you gave the students here in GSA Library. On a personal level it was lovely to meet with you both, and your presentation was very inspirational. I think you pitched it perfectly for our students, and they seemed to find it extremely engaging without exception.
Duncan Chappell, Glasgow School of Art
The presentation that you did for us at Vauvert was fantastic; we all thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a great deal. A couple of our teachers run a school art club and were so inspired that they have decided to change it to more of a ‘graphics’ type club for a while.
Lisa Bolton, Deputy Head, Vauvert Primary School
Just an email to say thank you so much for your workshop on Friday. The pupils have been talking non stop about it and are so excited to get their characters finished and to make a display. I think it really helped open their eyes to creation and being imaginative. Thank you for making it so relevant for them and for making this process so easy.
Jennifer Thorpe, Glenrothes High School
Thank you both so much for coming to the school and for delivering a fantastic workshop that was greatly enjoyed and appreciated by all.
Catherine O’Brien, English Teacher, St Columba High
KIDS’ COMMENTS
Amazing, I loved the lesson. Thanks for explaining how to write an actual graphic novel. It was an unmissable experience.
KS2 pupil
What I liked the most was when we made our own comics but I also enjoyed meeting the awesome writer and sketcher of the amazing book Louis. Louis is awesome!!!
KS2 pupil
Really good fun and really inspirational – it was the best English period we have ever had – made me want to go home and make my own comics.
S1 pupil
I really enjoyed the workshop with John and Sandra. I really thought making a character was the best part. The little films they showed us were cute too. I think the presentation was well done. I really hope they come back some day! I am sure their ideas and comics will develop by then and they can show us all over again!
MP2 student (from the USA)
It was an interesting and inspiring presentation as it showed their points of view about their comics and gave us the opportunity to make our own comic. I like their character, and books, Louis. I think they did a great job explaining and showing how he was drawn and where their ideas came from. I also like how they interacted with the audience during their presentation as it made it a lot more enjoyable and easier to connect and understand what they were sharing.
MP2 student (from The Netherlands)
This presentation I enjoy the most from all the other presentations I saw. The best thing I enjoyed was workshop. I really liked to get ideas about drawing my own comic character. I think this visit was one of the best and most interesting ones.
MP2 student (from Russia)
I enjoyed this day very much and it was very inspiring. Metaphrog were very thorough and gave a very clear image of what it would be like to be a comic writer.
High School pupil
Metaphrog was a great experience. It inspired me to draw and not worry about being bad at drawing. They were detailed in their presentation and told us about a wide range of different comic book characters, graphic novels and they were very encouraging and relaxed. The whole afternoon was very, very enjoyable.
High School pupil