Authors’ Booking Service is pleased to announce that children’s author Richard Scrimger is now scheduling visits to Ontario schools for the coming school year.  He spends most of the year in and around the GTA, but is happy to travel. 

His rate is $400.00 for a single presentation, $650.00 for two presentations, $875.00 for three presentations, or $1050.00 for four.  For a single evening event, Richard's rate is $450. HST and standard kilometrage are applicable.

Richard’s best known character is Norbert, a wise-cracking alien who inhabits a little boy’s nose in a series of novels for middle school readers. Richard has also written picture books starring baby Bun Bun, and young adult novels about blindness, rafting, and death.

Richard is a member of The Writers' Union of Canada, and so schools wishing to invite him may be eligible for a travel and fee subsidy to off-set the cost of his visit. For details of this program, please contact us. 
 

Published Works

Picture books: 

Bun Bun’s Birthday

Princess Bun Bun

Eugene’s Story 

 

Middle Grade Novels: 

The Nose From Jupiter

A Nose For Adventure

Noses Are Red,

The Boy From Earth 

The Way To Schenectady

Of Mice And Nutcrackers 

 

YA: 

From Charlie’s Point Of View

Into The Ravine

Me & Death

 

For Adults: 

Crosstown

Still Life With Children

Mystical Rose

 

Awards and Nominations  

Richard received a Mr Christie Award for his first children’s novel, The Nose From Jupiter.  This book and its sequels have won honours across Canada and the United States, and are sold around the world.  His first picture book, Bun Bun’s Birthday, was one of Quill & Quire’s books of the year.  Richard work has been nominated for the Red Cedar, Silver Birch, Blue Spruce, Red Maple, Manitoba Young Readers, Rocky Mountain, Hackmatack, YALSA, Kids’ Pick Of The Lists, Pacific North West, and City of Toronto. His recent YA novels, From Charlie’s Point Of View and Into The Ravine were both CLA Honour books. Charlie was selected by the Chicago Public Libraries as one of the “Best Of The Best” and by the children’s jury of Canada Reads.

Me & Death hasn’t been out for long, but the reviews have been kind so far. Booklist calls it “a difficult, compelling read that taps into teens’ fascination with death.” According to the Vancouver Sun, “The cosmology of Scrimger’s afterlife manages the feat of beingi nventive, playful and elaborate as a video game yet permeated with keen truths about this life, and maybe the next one, too.” And CM Magazine says that “the unorthodox fast moving plot, lively dialogue and believable characters make this an essential purchase.” (Essential, you hear that?)

Presentation Details

My presentation for grades K-2 lasts about forty minutes.  I explain where I get my ideas, and show how their experience is like mine.  Then there’s a little play-acting, and audience participation in a read-along.   

For middle grades (3-6) I like to take about an hour.  I’ll tell them a story, explaining techniques I use to pull the audience into the action.  We’ll build a story together, using some of those techniques.  And I’ll end with a reading or two designed to illustrate a point I’ve made. 

For seniors (7-8) I’ll start with the emotional truth behind every story – the dark places inside us where stories lurk.  I’ll talk about twisting the truth.  Then we’ll put together a story from bits and pieces and discover what works, what doesn’t, and why. 

For high-school students I take a slightly more formal approach.  There are exercises I like to use to facilitate plot-building.  We’ll discuss the four kinds of writing necessary to tell a story, and what the writer needs to bring to each kind.  We’ll talk about the basic story ideas in Western literature, the different types of protagonist and antagonist, the role of the narrator, the importance of voice. 

I will present to any and all grades. I am completely flexible – think Elastic-Man.  I prefer not to make one presentation to a wide age-range, but I will.  Not a problem that money won’t solve.  

There is no maximum number of students per session:  Typical would be 60-100.  Fewer students means more interaction. Over a certain number (say, 150) I charge more per session.

Workshops are definitely available.  I am on the faculty of the Humber College School For Writers.  I offer an in-depth interactive workshop with exercises and tips on plot structure and character building for all grades.  I also offer a writer-in-residence program, working with class-sized groups over the course of several sessions to produce a finished product. 

I offer Professional Development Workshops.  I am interested in literacy – particularly boys’ literacy.  I have given key-note addresses across Canada, and led many workshops on the power of The Story. 

I also offer Grade 12 Writers' Craft Workshops.

I am comfortable in all venues - classroom, library, auditorium or gymnasium.

I require:  Coffee.