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Barry Stone is a long term member of both The Writer’s Guild of Great Britain and The National Association of Writers in Education. He has worked extensively in schools with children of all ages, often dealing with difficult areas such as school bullying, drug use, domestic violence and mental illness. Examples of his lighter work with youngsters include enabling girls to write about their appreciation of cars, and galvanising a whole primary school to produce a body of work that he subsequently edited into a book about games played in the schoolyard over the previous hundred years. Barry’s highly regarded novel Barking At Winston was published in late 2010 and is available from Waterstone’s throughout the UK. In 2009 his play Star Quality was commissioned by Northumberland Theatre Company, who in 2011 toured it from Norfolk to The Borders – “a fun-filled family show, packed with sparkle, glitter and music” Northumberland Gazette. In late 2010 Barry was commended for providing Best Teaching Practice at the North East Centre For Lifelong Learning (Sunderland University). Available for half day, full day and longer term engagements with school groups of all ages.  Reviews:“Barry Stone achieves the almost impossible: he writes from the point of view of a dog and makes me care about the canine and the people he comes into contact with. My tail’s wagging!” Ian McMillan, Presenter, The Verb, BBC Radio 3  
“After 25 years in community arts, helping local writers get into print and others find their confidence through the written word, Barry Stone decided it was time to give his own work some attention. He may have previously produced 20 community books, but publishing his own still required a huge leap of faith. “Five years ago when I told everyone I was stepping back from the community work to write a book, I wish I’d kept my mouth shut,” he now says. But that book, Barking At Winston, has arrived and Barry is deservedly proud of his achievement.Although originally in talks with local Flambard Press, the anxiety surrounding arts funding cuts took hold and Barry found himself without a publisher. Last November, armed with a priceless endorsement from the poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan, he self-published Barking At Winston under his own company, Zircon Press.Self-publishing once had a dubious reputation, but in the last decade much of that has changed. Yet just because it is more respectable to self-publish doesn’t make it much easier. It is not just Barry’s hard work cold-calling individual branches that has landed Barking At Winston in 95 Waterstone’s shops nationwide, but also the charm of the tale.

Told from the pet dog’s point of view, the story is of a sometimes painful, sometimes violent, often humorous family life in Whitley Bay in the 1970s. While the book is intended for all ages from teens upwards, it seems to work best as a young adult novel. The fact that the dog narrates gives some distance to deal with topics such as a teenager’s confused sexuality. As Barry says, “Animals don’t make judgements about human behaviour” – and this makes the reader feel they wouldn’t be judged either.

Indeed, the over-riding feeling is that this is a kind book. “As a writer, you just soak stuff up,” Barry says. “I’ve worked in some very difficult circumstances and a lot of that has probably come out in the book.” I have no doubt that the warmth he shows for his fictional characters is equally present in the real world of his community work.

He has already completed the sequel, Winston And The Canny Lass, and would love for a larger publisher to take the book on, following his self-publishing success.

Meanwhile, Barry has more cause for celebration: his first professionally-produced stage play, Star Quality, is currently touring throughout the North East until the end of March. Northumberland Touring Company, which commissioned the script, aims to bring its productions to areas that have no theatre of their own. Describing the play as, “Touched by glitter, joy and entertainment, Star Quality has all the fun of a Saturday night show with a serious subtext,” Barry promises this is one not to be missed.”              Laura Fraine, New writing North

Teachers’ Resources: Explore the world of your author through our exciting one page class handouts. Click on , The World of Barry Stone