Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition

Today, the Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition launches. It was devised by the National Literacy Trust and stage musical Wicked (as part of its acclaimed Wicked Active Learning cultural and social education programme), to inspire the UK’s school children to get creative and use their voices to change the world for the better.

Now in its second year, the competition is based on the themes of one of the most well-known songs from the musical, ‘For Good’, and this year challenges pupils aged 9 – 14 to write persuasively about a positive environmental change they want to see.

This year, I’m delighted to announce that I’m joining the judging panel.

To find out how to take part and all the information about the wicked prizes, click the button!

The Twitchers Museum Adventure!

This February half-term, investigate the wonderful wildlife at your local museum as part of The Twitchers Museum Adventure, organised by Kids in Museums and Walker Books.

The egg-citing national trail for families celebrates the release of Feather, the latest book in the Twitchers Series. I’m super excited about this because Feather is a museum heist!

Over 55 museums across the UK will be taking part from 10 to 25 February 2024. Join birdwatching detectives the Twitchers and explore the beautiful birds and amazing animals in your local museum. Pick up a free activity sheet to join in and have a hoot with your family. Find all the feathered friends hidden in the collection and make your own pledge to protect wildlife. Complete the trail and get a free Twitchers sticker!

My Beetles crawled into the Observer!

Just before Christmas I was approached by the Observer newspaper, who were putting together their annual Christmas puzzle pull out and planning a quiz where the reader had to match the pet to the author. They wanted to know if I’d be happy to take part.

I was delighted that my six-legged lovelies would get to star in a newspaper article and invited the Observer into my writing cabin at the bottom of my garden to photograph my beautiful pets.

I’ve put together a gallery of the photoshoot, and you’ll see we tried a number of set-ups. Unfortunately, the beetles got excited by the bright lights and all the attention and kept flying about. Sophie, the photographer, ended up with a beetle in her hair at one point, but she was an excellent sport about it.

Adventures on Trains to become a film franchise!

It is with huge excitement that I can finally share this fabulous news with you. There’s an Adventures on Trains film franchise coming down the tracks, starting with The Highland Falcon Thief!

There’s lots going on behind the scenes that we aren’t able to talk about yet, but Sam and I are stoked that Kindle Entertainment will be reimagining our books for the big screen. Their vision for the screen adaptation of The Highland Falcon Thief is sure to please readers and fans of the series. The talent, passion, and ability of the team they’re putting together is beyond exciting.

You can read the full press release below.

There will be more news coming next year, but for now, all we can say is that it is happening and it’s going to be quite a ride!

M. G. Leonard to appear on BBC's The Big Scottish Book Club this Christmas

M. G. Leonard, Graham McTavish, Damian Barr and Jenny Coglan

I am so excited to be appearing on the BBC's Big Scottish Book Club next week, on the 13th December, with the fabulous Jenny Colgan and Graham McTavish, hosted by the one and only Damian Barr.

I would just like to point out that we children’s authors rarely get the opportunity to appear on ‘grown up’ literature programming as people seem to think it is easier to write a children’s book than a story for adults. For the record, it isn’t. It’s much harder. This is why I was so pleased to have this opportunity to talk with the ever-impressive Damian Barr about my wintery book.

This show is so much fun. Get into the mood for Christmas as we chat about magical Christmas bookshops, Raymond Briggs, Outlander, Clanlands in New Zealand and The Ice Children. I even do my Pordis impersonation.

If you love books and men in kilts then top up your mulled wine and join us!


M. G. Leonard contributes story to climate anthology

I’ve always wanted to work with the illustrator David Litchfield because I love of his style of art, in particular the way he treats light. Look at that beautiful cover! I’m delighted to be a part of this story anthology. The book is published in March 2024. The blurb is below. As you may be able to guess, my story involves eating insects.

In this collection of compelling short stories, authors including M. G. Leonard, Neal Shusterman and Tolá Okogwu offer hope for our planet in the face of climate change.

Skyscraper farms. Insects for dinner. Guerilla gardening. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction. Rooted in real-world science and technology, the stories offer a roadmap for a future where our planet can thrive. From a rewilding project with unexpected consequences to a rebellion against augmented reality, these wide-ranging stories will leave the reader feeling a little less powerless in the fight to save planet Earth.

Full list of contributors: Eli Brown, L. R. Lam, M. G. Leonard, Rebecca Lim, Oisín McGann, Tolá Okogwu, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, Louie Stowell and Bijal Vachharajani

Festive Prize Draw with Waterstones

My publisher is running a festive prize draw with Waterstones.

Order your special signed edition with unique endpapers and snowflake sprayed edges of The Ice Children before 23:59 on Wednesday 1 November to be in with the chance of winning:

  • A family day out for 2 adults and 2 children to an ice skating rink of your choice.

  • A festive dinner at your choice of restaurant.

  • A travel allowance of up to £150 is included.

My time at Setanta Records

If you read my biography, you’ll learn that once upon a time, I worked in the music industry.

It was the nineties and the record label I helped run was called Setanta Records. The label specialised in music from Ireland. It was run out of a council flat and set up by a man named Keith Cullen. The bands I worked with included The Divine Comedy, The Catchers, Edwyn Collins, The Frank and Walters, and A House.

RTE (the Irish BBC) have made a half-hour programme about the label, which I was pleased to take part in. They were happy years for me and I learned a lot.

If you are a fan of music from the nineties or interested in indie record labels, this show might interest you.


Cover Reveal for FEATHER

I revealed Paddy Donnelly’s incredible cover for the fourth and final book in The Twitchers Quartet at the Cheltenham Festival this weekend. Behold the beauty of Feather, the winter adventure for my birdwatching detectives.

I think it could be my favourite one, but it is so hard to pick between them. They are all incredible.

Feather will be coming to bookshops in February. If you would like to preorder a copy - and I’d be very grateful if you did - then here are all the places you can do that.

Look at these four beauties. I’m so indebted to Paddy Donnelly and Walker Books for making my stories look so glorious. I always wanted to write four Twitchers Mysteries, so that if you read them, you’d experience a year of birdwatching, and now I have. I couldn’t be more proud. I hope you like them too.

Cheltenham Literature Festival 2023

I had a very busy couple of days at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and I loved it.

It’s always such a pleasure to meet readers (young and old), and Cheltenham puts on one of the very best festival in the country.

I made a video of my adventures for each day I was there. Take a look, and if you’re wondering whether or not to go along to your local festival, I hope they pursuade you to give it a go.

I will be at the Guildford Festival in November. Come along. It will be fun.

DAY ONE of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2023

DAY TWO of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2023

The Week Junior Book Awards

This week I attended The Week Junior Book Awards. The Ice Children audio production was shortlisted for the Best Audiobook and although it didn’t win, we impressed the judges enough for them to award it one of only two Highly Commended badges given out that evening. I was overjoyed. I’m very proud of that Audible production.

It was a brilliant evening and I bumped into lots of lovely Author and Illustrator friends. I was especially delighted to see Penny Neville-Lee, the artist responsible for making The Ice Children into a beautiful book.