Catherine MacPhail
Home address:
Flat 3/2, 3 Redwood Court, Campbell Street, Greenock, PA16 8BW, ScotlandWebsite:
www.catherinemacphail.co.ukBRAW network:
yesLL funded:
yesBiography:
I was born and still live in Greenock, although I love traveling. I always wanted to be a writer, I can’t think of a time when I didn’t. I was always making up stories, I just never thought wee lassies like me could become 'proper writers'. It was only after I married and had my children that I joined the local writers' group and began sending stories away. The first one I had published I had actually written when I was 17! Why didn’t I send it away then? I tried every kind of writing from articles, to romantic novels, to short stories. I’ve always loved comedy, and had two comedy series on radio as well as comedy plays. It was 1994 before I began writing a book called Run Zan Run, and this changed my life.
About writer's work:
I like writing about real life themes. I always say that for me the real magic is where the idea comes from. I’ve written several books with a bullying theme, for example Run Zan Run, Missing, Picking on Percy and Sticks and Stones all examine the theme of bullying.
I like taking young characters in to situations which would be challenging for adults. In Missing, in which a boy dissapears, I look at how this affects his younger sister. Young people deal with such situations so differently from adults. But the theme I really love is relationships, particuarly strong family and friendship relationships. How do friends relate to each other? (Worse Than Boys, or Bad Company). How loyal would you be to a member of your family? (Dark Waters) and how far would you go to avenge your father? (Wheels)
Run Zan Run won the Kathleen Fidler Award in 1994, and the Vergheretto Award in 1997
Fighting Back won the Arts Council Childrens Book Award in 1999
Missing won the South Lanarkshire Book Award in 2000
Dark Waters won the Stockport Book Award in 2003
Tribes won the Sheffield Book Award in 2002
Underworld won the Calderdale Book Award in 2005
Catch Us If You Can won the Calderdale Book Award in 2005
Roxy’s Baby won the Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children’s Books in 2006, The North East Book Award 2006 and The Grampian Book Award in 2007
About writer's events and projects:
I really enjoy doing events at schools, as well as workshops on writing, and residencies. My events always include storybuilding, how plots grow, where ideas come from and how character creates story. I work with young audiences as well as adult groups.I’ve recently been involved in three day events at schools, working with the feeder primaries on various books. They worked on graffiti art for Tribes, built a wigwam for Fugitive, and Missing Posters for Catch Us if You Can.
I enjoy interactive events, brainstorming stories with pupils. In fact, my book Wheels was written when I was trying to show how important a good first chapter can be to grab a reader, so I wrote a first chapter, and liked it so much, I wrote the rest of the book!
Links to other websites:
www.macphailbooks.comLanguage:
EnglishAge groups:
9-12, Teens, AdultsBooks written
Duncan's life is turned upside down when Dean's ghost begins to follow him everywhere. Dean upsets teachers, picks fights, chases dogs but no one else can see him so Duncan gets the blame! How can ...
Has anyone ever picked on you? Shawn is making Percy's life a misery. But is in for a shock when he discovers to his horror that he is living Percy's life! Will their lives ever be the same again?
When Nick steals a rare fossil on a school trip, his wishes come true. But does he really have the power to control his own future?
It was as I was walking into the drama class that I remembered the girl I had bumped into and the green sweater just like mine. That was what had got Mrs Watt mixed up. She had seen the girl in the ...
Lissa's world has just turned upside down. Her father has been in jail and is coming home for Christmas. She can't bear the way her mother and sister are so happy and making welcome plans. After all, ...
In this story, Rory, a young boy who has been caring for his grandfather, is devastated when he's told that grandad needs to go into a home, and that he will be fostered. The young boy and old man go ...
Col McCann is used to being in trouble. It is always the McCann family the police turn to when there is trouble - mainly because of his elder brother Mungo of course, who is generally at the centre ...
Spider and Lizzie have gone back in time - again! They're in the dark streets of Edinburgh, in 1861, filled with kidnappers, killers - and monsters?
Kerry and her mum have recently moved into new council accommodation in a tower block. Kerry's dad has recently left them, and Kerry and her mum are forging a new life together. But Kerry's mum is ...
This book is suitable for reluctant readers of 8-13 with a reading age of eight years. It is printed on cream paper, which is proven to be more restful on the eye. The font is specially designed to ...
When enormous, rhinoceros-lookalike Granny Nothing arrives on the McAllisters' doorstep it's a big shock for Stephanie and Ewen. They didn't even know she existed! Now Granny Nothing is making up for ...
The carnival's coming to town and Stephanie and Ewen are desperate to go. Granny Nothing loves carnivals, but will she be mistaken for the Bearded Lady.? It's there that they encounter magician ...
Ewen's school rugby team is rubbish. He's the best player in it and he can't play rugby for toffee. Everyone is despairing of ever winning a single game, until Granny Nothing decides to take things ...
Stephanie and Ewen's parents are off for a second honeymoon - leaving Granny Nothing in charge. Two weeks of mystery mince with Granny Nothing's special ingredient...Luckily Dad's left lots of money ...
Maxine's parents have had to do perhaps the worst possible thing: confirm the identity of her brother Derek's body by the clothes he was wearing when he disappeared. So the brother who was missing is ...
Ram has no memory of who he is, his background or where he has come from. He awakes in a darkened corridor of a block of flats with no idea of how he has got there. And then, the lift doors nearby ...
Ram has cheated death - four times. Who is so desperate to kill him? And why? On the run, Ram finds himself on desolate moorland. He knows he is being stalked, but this time by something less than ...
'Then I heard it: something swishing rhythmically towards me out of the blackness. Ever had that feeling of terror when you can't see what's coming but you know it might be your worst nightmare?' ...
Ever since Ram woke up in a tower block a few weeks ago, the deadly and mysterious Dark Man has been hunting him down. With no memory of who he is or what has happened to him, the only thing Ram can ...
Has anyone ever picked on you? Shawn is making Percy's life a misery. But is in for a shock when he discovers to his horror that he is living Percy's life! Will their lives ever be the same again?
From its secret underground streets to the top of Arthur's Seat, the city of Edinburgh has been the inspiration for many children's books and writers. This unique guide will help children and adults ...
'Roxy was shaking with fear. She drew in a deep breath. She would not let her fear take over. She couldn't. She had too much to lose. She had to be strong, to be brave. For once in her life she had ...
'Ivy turned on her. 'I told you I'd get you, didn't I? Well,' her next words sent shivers through Katie. 'Tonight's the night.' Katie is being bullied at school - and cannot get anyone to believe ...
When Nick steals a rare fossil on a school trip, his wishes come true. But does he really have the power to control his own future?
Gregg thinks he's the funniest and coolest boy in school - he's got a nickname for everybody and he's never short of a smart-ass comment for his friends. Until, that is, he finds himself in the frame ...
Spider and Lizzie are bored on their school trip to Edinburgh Castle - until they are transported back to the siege that took place there hundreds of years ago. A story offering a real taste of ...
Kevin is determined that he'll never join a gang but his path crosses the Tribe's when he saves one of them from a rival gang. Invited to take their initiation test, Kevin plans to break the oath of ...
At last Omar's family have a safe place to live. But life isn't easy. Sam's always there - in Omar's estate, in his class and in his face. Sam wants to push Omar around. But Omar's pushing back.
A school trip goes disastrously wrong when a visit to local caves turns into something far more sinister. Five school children find themselves trapped beneath the ground. Their best chance of escape ...
James, paralized in a car accident, is now in a wheelchair and he's furious. The teenage driver of the car that hit him was killed in the accident, so James can't believe his eyes when he sees him ...
Hannah Driscoll is part of a gang called the Lip Gloss Girls. The gang spends most of their spare time together - or baiting the rival gang the Hell Cats. The two gangs constantly square up to each ...
