It’s over six months since my last newsletter, so what have I been doing? While my web wizard has been working his magic to create this lovely new website, one of my books has found a new publisher, two have been published abroad, one has become a Kindle book, one has been touring as a play, three are now available as talking books and a short story has been published in an anthology. And I’ve visited many schools, including one in France.

The newly published book is Willa and Old Miss Annie. It is three animal stories woven together, and is illustrated by the famous artist Kim Lewis. When it was first published it was ‘Highly Commended’ for the Carnegie medal, which is next best to winning. Like A Calf Called Valentine and Valentine’s Day, it’s published by Catnip.

Click here to order Willa and Old Miss Annie from Amazon UK

Daughter of the Sea is now published in Slovene. It’s still my personal favourite.

Also newly published in a foreign language is Street Child – this time in Thai. Can you find out if these books are published in any other countries?

Click here to order Daughter of the Sea from Amazon UK • Click here to order Street Child from Amazon UK

My Kindle book is Requiem. It was my first novel for adults, and is set in Ireland in the 1950s. I now have two books available on Kindle, and soon there’ll be a third. What do you think about books on Kindle? It’s another way of reading, a good way of storing, and it keeps books in print for ever! But yes, I love paper books too!

Click here to order Requiem (Kindle edition) from Amazon UK

The new audio books are the three Tam stories. The Starburster and The Humming Machine are available in one boxed set, and The Windspinner is available separately. They are published by Audiogo and I am the reader – using my full repertoire of funny voices!

My new short story is The Little Ship’s Boy, which is published in Haunted, a collection of ghost stories published by Andersen Press. It’s based on a song that I made up with folk composer Jerry Simon. All the stories are very spooky!

The website So Many Books, So Little Time asked me to contribute a guest blog as part of their Haunted blog tour. You can read it here.

Click here to buy Haunted from Amazon UK

My newest book, Treason, had two launches, one at St Wilfrid’s school in Sheffield, the other at Sheffield’s Tudor pub, the Old Queen’s Head. Here I am with Richard Welsh of Rhyme and Reason, and Fumiko and Anna, who organised the events. Treason has had a great start!

Click here to buy Treason from Amazon UK

Cotton Grass Theatre’s production of Street Child was on tour in the early summer, and again in the autumn.

This is what the critics said about it when it was on at the Barnstaple Festival: “This innovative play is quite spellbinding – a flawless performance from Cotton Grass Theatre and a definite must see! The combination of shadow-imagery, puppets and acting made for a magical performance and kept us all gripped to the end.” – Barnstaple Festival review.

I was invited to see another school production of Street Child, this time by the leavers of St Joseph’s Primary School in Uttoxeter. What a stunning production. Well done every single one of you.

And Street Child has been the subject of most of your letters again! I’ve heard from Woolton Hill Junior School near Newbury, Hadrian Park Primary School in Wallsend (you might like to see Street Child when it goes to Newcastle!) Oliver Riley from Moorhouse School in Oxted, Ballinamallard Primary School in Fermanagh, The Arches Primary School near Chester (thank you for giving me such a fantastic welcome!) and Rachel Elliott from Alwoodley Primary School.

Other letters came from students in the British school in Alicante, who wrote to me about Abela – The Girl Who Saw Lions, and from Sacred Heart School in Rotherham, where the children seem to have read practically everything I’ve written!

Click here to buy Abela – The Girl Who Saw Lions from Amazon UK

Last but not least comes my favourite letter. Children from Rykneld School in Burton-on-Trent had a wonderful time working on The Midnight Man. They all wrote very funny letters to me – this one from Summer is just as she wrote it. She wins a copy of Willa and Old Miss Annie.

Dear Berlie Doherty

My name is Summer. I know you are a story writer and because we love The Midnight Man because they are a bit scary and we wrote a letter to the midnight man. He replied back and he left some specs behind and a book but it said on a piece of paper DO NOT open till children arrive. Then the next day on the door sneakily do a midnight feast and we did it. We made some dream catchers.

What’s your next book going to be? Do you know how to do magic tricks? What were you before you were a story writer? How old are you? Are you thirty? Is the Midnight Man your husband? Please write back.

Yours sincerely

Summer Jane Rance.

Ps: Do you like brussel sprouts? I don’t because they make you trump.

Well, there you are. Thank you for making me giggle, Summer – and there’s lots of ideas there for other schools. I’m sorry The Midnight Man is out of print. I wish it wasn’t!

Finally, I want to thank Magoli Lelong and her colleagues in France for inviting me to meet the students of Saint Chef school, who have been studying Abela, and to speak at the Literature Festival in Bourgoin-Jallieu. I had a wonderful time with you all.

That’s it for now. If you would like to join my mailing list, fill in my web wizard’s box near the top of this page. Or you could subscribe to my new RSS feed! (There’s a button near the top of the page.)