How it all started
The idea of writing my first kids book popped up in my head when in January 1999, after the Christmas holidays, I went to the kennel to bring Barry back home.
And the whole thing started in 2000, some time after the book was published in Belgium and its sale promoted by the
Service du Livre Luxembourgeois, a Belgian cultural institution that also took up since then the sale of all my kids' books,
except for Barry's Adventure and my ebooks.
About future projects
I’m currently finishing my first adults' novel and working on my next children's book.
Other ideas are also popping up in my head, but there’s simply not enough hours in a day or days in a week to do all the things that I’d like to do - though I'm retired...
About invitations
It is through the Service du Livre Luxembourgeois that I'm regularly invited since 2000 to a number of literary and pedagogical activities,
such as... (more)
Attending events promoted by the Service du Livre Luxembourgeois – and some time later also by the association Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg,
and still more recently by the association France-Portugal –
has offered me the opportunity of making acquaintances at different levels and being invited in turn to other cultural activities and events in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, even in Germany.
It also happens that contacts are established through the internet, as it was the case with a high school in
Romania.
Besides, it was in this country that the first performance of my children's play... (more)
About visits to schools and respective programs
Every visit is customized to meet individual needs, leaving plenty of time for questions. I love questions!
The programs are full of stories, often works in progress or books not yet in print. Audience participation and skill-building is encouraged.
Whenever possible I love having a meal at the school with the children, and I'm always happy to sign my kids books.
To those wishing to bring a writer (or illustrator) to his/her school, I’d advise that they read the article
I wrote on the subject; it gives a few tips that will help prepare this activity.
What is the Barry4kids.net project? It's a kids' website strongly didactical and free of charge.
The site is in four languages, which no doubt is a trump for children (and what about adults?) learning a foreign language at school or living in a country where one of those languages is generally spoken.
I would like to call the attention of heads of school and librarians, as well as of parents and cultural associations, to the deep interest for children in using the
Barry4kids.net site regularly.
Why are you doing animations about Maths and Science? I’ve noticed for some time now that a lot of people – most of them not even authors – do readings at schools and libraries.
On the other side, most children and teenagers are often struggling with Maths and Science.
Being able to develop pedagogical activities on both these areas of knowledge has allowed me to make converge to one and only end my two university courses – Letters and Science –
and my passion for History: even a Maths exercise or an experiment in Physics or Chemistry may be the subject of a tale or a story often taken directly from History.
I believe that there might be a strong demand for this kind of activity, since not everybody has the knowledge required for developing it.
Obviously I will always be open to more traditional pedagogical activities, in particular to those relating to my own kids books.
And other didactical material (in English, French, German and Portuguese) is also available to teachers and parents. Just send me a
message to that purpose.
What are your conditions regarding these activities?
1. In principle I don’t feel very comfortable in receiving a cash fee when developing activities at schools and libraries or at cultural associations.
I would rather have a financial compensation through the sale of my books, which for sure is an advantage for both parties.
The minimum quantity required per activity is the sale of 10 of any of my kids books.
§ - § - If we consider that each school has its own library and that the number of children in a classroom is at least 20, I don’t think it will be difficult to reach that sale quantity of 10;
parents usually give their children some money to buy books when they know that a writer is coming to the school for a visit. However, if the school shows interest in my visit but has doubts that any sales can be performed,
in no circumstance will this fact be a reason for the visit not to take place. In fact, I’ll visit the school with as much enthusiasm.
For tips on how to prepare this activity, please read the article I wrote on the subject.
1.1. Anyone buying at least 10 books is entitled to an activity on the condition that the place where the activity will be held is in Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland or Portugal,
and not farther than 50 km from the city of Luxembourg or the city of Geneva or the city of Lisbon. Regarding more far away places, other conditions apply case by case.
Alternatively, they may have one free book.
1.2. When buying 11 to 20 books, a reduction of 10% applies. From 21 to 50 books, the reduction will be 15%. For more than 50 books, a 20% reduction will apply.
1.3. These percentages are to be understood for orders covering the mentioned quantities.
If you buy 10 books now, 10 books some time later and so on, I'll be unable to give you a reduction higher than 10%.
2. For theatre performances by both amateur and professional groups, please go to the respective page KIDS Theatre.
