2006 TOUR SCHEDULE

U.K. / IRELAND
JANUARY
Friday 20 - 10.00 - School event at Oaklands School, Old Bethnal Green Road, London. 200 + people
12.00 - Stock signing at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London.
13.15 - School event at Emmanual College, Battersea Rise, London.
14.30 - Signing at Ottakar's Bookshop, 70 St. Johns Rd, Clapham Junction, London.
16.30 - Public signing at Ottakar's Bookshop, 6-6a Exchange Centre, High St, Putney, London
Monday 23 - 12.00 - School event at Richard Lander School, Tresawls Rd, Truro, Cornwall.
16.00 - Public signing at Ottakar's Bookshop, 11-12 Boscawen St, Truro, Cornwall.
18.30 - Public event at Ottakar's Bookshop, 11-12 Boscawen St, Truro, Cornwall.
Tuesday 24 - 13.30 - School event at St Boniface's College, Tavistock Road, Plymouth.
18.30 - Public event at Plymouth College, Ford Park Road, Plymouth.
Wednesday 25 - 10.00 - School event at Plymstock School, Church Road, Plymstock, Plymouth.
16.30 - Public signing at WHSmith High Street, 47-50 Fore St, Taunton, Somerset. signing for 90 minutes
Thursday 26 - a.m. - School event at Alleyn's College, Dulwich. approx 250 people
a.m. - School event at JAG's, Dulwich.

FEBRUARY
Saturday 25 - 11.00 - Public signing at Ennis Bookshop, in County Clare, Ireland. signing for two hours

MARCH
Thursday 2 - a.m. - School event at Borders, Islington, London. For World Book Day.

MAY
Wednesday 17 - 11.00 - School event at Navan Arts Centre,County Meath. approx 300 people
15.30 - Public event at Dunboyne Library, County Meath.
Thursday 18 - 10.00 - School event at Hughes & Hughes, Omni Shopping Centre, Santry, Dublin.
12.30 - School event at Hughes & Hughes Junior, St Stephens Green Shopping Centre, Dublin.
Friday 19 - a.m. - Three school events, arranged by The Children's Bookshop, Pinner.
16.00 - Public signing at The Children's Bookshop, Pinner. signing for two hours
Saturday 20 - 14.00 - Public event at Kingston Reading Festival, London. signing for 2 hours +
Sunday 21 - 14.00 - Public event at Brighton Festival, Main Hall, Old Market, Hove, Brighton. approx 300 people
Monday 22 - 10.30 - School event at Woodkirk High Specialist Science School, Tingley, Wakefield.
13.30 - School event at Leeds Grammar School, Huddersfield.
15.45 - Public signing at Sonia Benster's Children's Bookshop, Huddersfield.
20.00 - Public event at Rastrick High School, Brig House. approx 200 + people
Tuesday 23 - 11.30 - School event at Waterstones, 93 Albion Street, Leeds.
12.30 - Public signing at Waterstones, 93 Albion Street, Leeds.
Wednesday 24 - 10.00 - School event at Montrose Town Hall, Melville Gardens, Montrose.
14.00 - School event at Kirriemuir Town Hall, 28/30 Reform Street, Kirriemuir.
Thursday 25 - 10.30 - Two school events at the Beach ballroom, Beach Promenade, Aberdeen.
Friday 26 - 10.30 - Three school event at Elgin Library, Cooper Park, Elgin, Moray.
Saturday 27 - 12.00 - public event/signing at Waterstones, 2-6 Hill St, Richmond, Surrey.
Tuesday 30 - 14.30 - Public signing at Waterstones, 22 Sidney St, Cambridge. signing for two hours
Wednesday 31 - 15.15 - Public event at Hay Festival, Hay-On-Wye, Wales. approx 400 people

AUGUST
Saturday 12 - 14.00 - Public event at Kilkenny Arts Festival. approx 200 people
Monday 14 - 16.30 - Public event at Edinburgh Book Festival. seventh year in a row!! approx 450 people

OCTOBER
Saturday 7 - 11.00 - Launch event for Bec at Craggaunowen, County Clare. My third launch party, and the first to be made accessible to the public. A very special day.
Monday 9 - 10.00 - Schools event at Bundoran, County Donegal.
13.30 - School event at Letterkenny, County Donegal.
Tuesday 10 - a.m. - School events in Derry.
16.00 - Public signing at Easons, Foyleside Shopping Centre, Derry.
Wednesday 11 - 10.00 - School event at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, Belfast, County Antrim.
14.00 - School event at Corpus Christi College (boys), Belfast, County Antrim.
16.30 - Public signing at Waterstones, 44-46, Fountain St, Belfast, County Antrim. signing for two and a half hours
Thursday 12 - 10.00 - School event at Methodist College Belfast, County Antrim.
Friday 13 - 10.00 - School event at Bow Secondary School For Boys, London E3.
13.00 - School event at Ilford Central Library, Clements Rd, Ilford, Essex. I also collected a Redbridge Award for Best Children's Book of the Year at this event -- nice!!
16.30 - public signing at Newham Children's Books Centre, Newham bookshop, 745-747 Barking Rd, London.
Saturday 14 - 11.00 - Tea with prize winner of a National Library for the Blind competition, in the Alias Hotel, Cheltenham. This was an auction, where the winning bidder got to have a private meeting (and tea!) with me. All funds raised went to support the NLB.
12.45 - Public event at the Cheltenham Book Festival.
Sunday 15 - 17.30 - Public event at the Ilkley Book Festival.
Monday 16 - 10.00 - School event in Doncaster, arranged through Doncaster Library Services.
12.30 - Public signing at Waterstones, 27 Frenchgate Centre Interchange, Doncaster.
16.00 - Public signing at Borders Books, 1-5 Davygate, York.
Tuesday 17 - 10.00 - School event at Borders Books, 94-96 Briggate, Leeds.
Wednesday 18 - 11.00 - School event at Shannon Library, County Clare.
13.45 - School event at Ennis Library, County Clare.
16.00 - Public signing at The Ennis Bookshop, County Clare.
Thursday 19 - 10.15 - School event at Nenagh Library, County Tipperary.
13.45 - School event at Excel Theatre, Tipperary, County Tipperary.
Friday 20 - 10.00 - School event at New Ross Library, County Wexford.
12.30 - School event at Wexford Town Library, County Wexford.
16.00 - Public signing at Hughes & Hughes, Redmond Square, Wexford.
Saturday 21 - 11.00 - Public signing at Hughes & Hughes, Omni Shopping Centre, Santry, Dublin 9.
15.00 - Public signing at Hughes & Hughes, Marine Road, Dun Laoighre, Dublin.
Tuesday 24 - 16.00 - Public event at Dooradoyle Library, Limerick.
Wednesday 25 - 16.00 - Public signing at Waterstones, 77 High St, Staines, Middlesex. signing for two hours
Thursday 26 - 11.00 - Public signing at The Lion & Unicorn, 19 King Street, Richmond, Surrey.
14.30 - Public signing at Waterstones, 100 The Glades Shopping Centre, Bromley.
Friday 27 - 11.00 - Public event at the Guildford Book Festival.
16.00 - Public signing at Waterstones, Broad Street, Reading. signing for two and a half hours
Saturday 28 - 11.00 - Public signing at Borders Books, MSU8, Bullring, Birmingham.
13.30 - Public event at Stourbridge Town Hall, arranged by FCBG (the Federation of Children's Books Groups)
Sunday 29 - 15.00 - Public signing at Waterstones Bluewater, Wets Village, Greenhithe, Kent. signing for three and a half hours
Monday 30 - 10.00 - School event at Bushey Manor Junior School, Grange Road, Bushey.
17.30 - Public event at Waterstones Picadilly, London. I got my publicists, Geraldine and Mary, up to sing with me at this event -- they still give me dirty looks about it now!!!

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This was the first year that I didn't do any events outside of the UK and Ireland!!! There were a few reasons for staying at home. After so much touring abroad during the previous few years, I was feeling tired, and needed a rest from long-haul flights! Also, my events in the UK were become much bigger than they had been, and demand for events was fierce -- I did two big tours of the UK and Ireland in 2006, and could have easily toured for several more weeks!! Mainly, it's good to have variety when you do a lot of touring -- I hadn't done a huge amount of events at home over the last couple of years, so it was nice to do the rounds here again!