I’ve always loved reading but started becoming really interested in writing in my second year at secondary school. I worked for many years in children’s publishing as an editor and copywriter before becoming a full-time author in 2004.

My first books were about teenage life and came from my own experiences and concerns - I was fourteen when I discovered the immense and liberating power of writing and it was my main stay during my largely unhappy teenage years. Now I write to entertain my children and their friends.

I write lots of different styles of books and for a wide age-range - from teenage thrillers to picture books. I also write poetry for children and adults. I’ve written spooky books, science-fiction, school stories, funny stories, horror (but not much because it scares me!), thrillers, football… Writing different styles of story about all sorts of different subjects keeps me on my toes and helps to entertain me. That’s the first rule of being a writer: you have to entertain yourself - otherwise how can you hope to entertain anyone else?
My work was featured in the BBC series English Express, which won a Children’s Bafta Award. I also appeared in two programmes in the award-winning Let’s Write A Story series. I am a National Reading Campaign Reading Champion and a frequent visitor to schools, libraries and festivals around the UK and abroad where I give talks and readings and run writing workshops. I am a member of NAWE and The Society of Authors.
 

Workshops   I am unusual in that I write across the age-ranges and on all kinds of subjects from fairies to football, so I can work with children at any stage in their school life, from nursery to GCSE. My sessions are usually writing workshops or a mixture of a talk about writing with readings from my work, followed by questions and answers. I also run writing workshops for adults (see my website for details of my writing for children course in northern France in April). I have public liability insurance and an up-to-date Enhanced Disclosure, and am a member of NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education).

My main focus is on writing from real life experiences and interests - whatever the genre explored - and I believe passionately in the importance of writing as self-expression. In recent years I’ve created jungle stories with reception children, garden poems with Years 1 and 2, modern fairy-tales with a mixed age group, tales in different genres, and lots more. I’ve developed a Jibber Jabber Storyteller writing exercise, based on the popular “chatterbox” or “fortune teller” origami device, that has a range of applications and has proved very successful. I’m very flexible about the projects I undertake. I’m not a teacher. I try to help and enthuse children in their writing through sharing with them some of the strategies and techniques that I use in my own writing.
Over the past few years I have gained a particular reputation, I suppose, as a motivator of reluctant boy readers and writers and I do like working with boys - but my stories have plenty of elements that appeal to girls too and I am equally happy working in a mixed environment. The most important thing, it seems to me, with any writing project is that it should be fun and inspirational for everyone involved.

Starting at 9.30, I am willing to do up to four sessions in a day (five if a short session with Reception/Nursery is included). I like to begin with an assembly (or two - one Key Stage 1, one Key Stage 2) of around 30 minutes to introduce myself and my work to the whole school. Writing workshops require at least an hour, and, for Year 5 plus, an hour and a half ideally. I am happy to work for a single day or a whole week or over a number of phased visits. Basically, I’m open to any suggestion!

Feedback
“We would like to express our huge thanks and gratitude to you for the inspiration you have given to our son during this past week. You have made such an impression on him with your creative writing ideas. He has gone from a child who would write the bare minimum to a very mature child who now does not want to stop writing. Within a week you have helped him become so confident.” Gail, mother of a child attending a week’s writing course at Bishop Challoner School, Tower Hamlets

“Just wanted to send a quick email to send our utmost gratitude for the work that you did with our children on Wednesday. The children are all buzzing from working with you and I think it has really inspired them. Many of my children are keeping their own notebooks of ideas now.” James Lacey, Literacy Coordinator, Harmans Water Primary School, Berkshire

“It was a great week and thanks for all your work and for coming. It was lovely, Alan, and the kids were all really touched. I just wanted you to know that you’re great.” Janet Smyth, Pushkin Prize Administrator on a week’s writing residency with Scottish and Russian teenagers at Moniak Mhor, Scotland

“Dear Mr Durant, Thank you for coming to our school. I enjoyed it very much. I liked the bit when we made up the story. When I grow up I want to be an author too. Me and my friend Henry thought your stories and poems were very amusing and great. Please come again!!!” Thomas Wilkinson, Class 4d, Holland Park Primary, Clacton, Essex

Awards
Royal Mail Scottish Children’s Book Award (Winner)
Portsmouth Children’s Book Award (Winner, twice), Stockport Children’s Book Award (Winner), Children’s Book Award (shortlisted), Kate Greenaway Medal (shortlisted), Nottingham Children’s Book Award (runner-up)

Books
Picture Books
Burger Boy
Billy Monster’s Daymare
Football Fever
A Dinosaur Called Tiny
I Love You Little Monkey
One Pig Went For A Drive
Hoppy Ever After
The Flamingo Who Forgot
Flying South

Picture Books with letters
Dear Tooth Fairy
Dear Father Christmas
Dear Mermaid
Dear Father Christmas, Get Well Soon

The Diary of a Tooth Fairy

Cinderella: The Fairy Tale Files

Infant Readers
Nursery Crimes series
Brown Bear Gets in Shape
That’s Not Right!
Buzz and Bingo in the Fairy Tale Forest
Buzz and Bingo in the Monster Maze
Buzz and Bingo in the Starry Sky

Lower Junior Fiction
Spider McDrew’s Big Match
Spider McDrew and the Egyptians
Spider McDrew
Happy Birthday, Spider McDrew

Upper Junior Fiction
Goal!
Stat Man
Stat Man Goes Greek
Game Boy
Game Boy Reloaded
Game Boy Galactic

Score!

Secondary School Fiction
Doing the Double
Vampire Stories
Blood
Flesh and Bones

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