Theresa Breslin - Author Info

is an award winning librarian and writer with a special interest in children's literature. She was born and brought up in a small town in the middle of Scotland close to castles, old burial grounds and the Roman Wall, all of which helped fuel an active imagination as a child, further developed by a real love of reading.


Lennox Castle	Castle Sween

Her books have been praised for their elements of strong setting and sense of place and she acknowledges that she draws on the dramatic landscape of Scotland, its history and its culture.

While working as a mobile librarian she wrote her first book - the route included a small village where the local steel mill closed down devastating the community. She has been described as an outstanding writer who combines a powerful sense of drama with memorable characters and superb storytelling. Books range from historical tales to modern school stories, from science fiction and fantasy to real life situations faced by children, such as bullying, or settling in at a new school. As well as writing "fun" Simon's Challenge filming photograph stories she thinks it is valuable to address serious issues with the framework of fiction and allow young people to explore and extend their knowledge in this way. She aims to encourage Imagination, and themes within the books often reflect her interest in storytelling and children's literacy; with "Challenged Children" taking a leading role. She loves writing humorous stories where children cause confusion, and triumph over adult foolishness. Her work is in translation in a number of languages, is used extensively in schools and has been filmed for television and dramatised for radio.

Author with cast while filming Simon's Challenge, with Elaine C Smith, Dave Anderson and featuring Joe McFadden as Simon.

She is committed to promoting reading and writing and will talk about this to anyone who will listen!

Click on any of these thumbnail images for a larger version

Speaking at the offices of the British Council in Hong Kong	On the BfS stand at the ECIS Conference, Berlin	Cheung Sha Wan School, a session with teachers and students

In the Power Pack - the active guide to Libraries which she wrote and compiled - you can see that the Lib-rar-ee is the place to be!

The Library Rap

See - Hide

She has served on the Board of Scottish Book Trust and on the Advisory Committee for Public Lending Right in the U.K. Supported by the Scottish Arts Council and the Federation of Children's Books Groups, she started the West of Scotland Children's Book Group. (see LINKS)

She actively supports literacy initiatives for young people and has written articles and made a wide variety of presentations on this subject.
Articles/Presentations/Papers

Launch of Scottish Writers Project

She co-ordinated the Scottish Writers project producing the BAFTA nominated CD Rom - an exciting interactive CD using computer based game technology to promote fiction in an innovative way to 14-16 year olds.

She is in demand as an experienced Conference and Book Festival speaker and creative writing tutor. Bookings via publishers or Scottish Book Trust.
Bookings & Publishers Contacts

In her spare time she loves to browse through old children's books and also enjoys walking, films, theatre, reading (especially children's books) and exploring old graveyards.

She loves to travel, meeting people, seeing different sights, and hearing stories from countries around the world.


Walking on the Great Wall of China	Blue Church, Berlin	Outside the Chinese History Museum, Tiananmen Square	Boat in the harbour of Hong Hong

View of the Great Wall of China		In the old Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) Beijing

More information and Interviews

Honours and Critical Acclaim

Library Rap
if you want to read or to know the speed of the fastest horse and the slowest tortoise to find out the date of your local fete or the heaviest weight of the fattest man well...here's how you can check yourself in at the librareeeeeee check out a book check it out check it out checka checka checka check it out!	if you fancy a story from Alpha Centauri want a trip to the stars and return via Mars spooky tales that chill you thrill you will you get a life get a look in on a fantasy theme a chance to dream and learn how to cook just... open a BOOK! check yourself in at the librareeeeeee check out a book check it out check it out checka checka checka check it out!	if you need to know when the train will go which teams end up in the last World Cup who did what where when and why is it the truth or was it a lie? wannabe a whiz in the latest quiz get the facts send a fax hear the views all the news devour go the the library and grab the POWER-PACK NOW!!!!!!!!