Hi everyone in Sharjah! I’m so looking forward to meeting you!

I’m super-keen to meet and chat with book-lovers and reading fans from across the globe at this month’s Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, held in the United Arab Emirates.

The Festival is enormous –the world’s fourth largest book fair!

To give you an idea of the scale, I’ll be presenting just five of the more than 1500 events happening over the eleven days.

I’m going out to schools, universities and presenting at the massive expo, which attracts 130 publishing houses from all over the world.

I’m so grateful to everyone at the festival for hosting me, and for organising such an important event: it’s just an amazing opportunity to inspire children (and their adults) by sharing our stories from around the world, and by showcasing characters and tales from different countries and different cultures.

I can’t wait to be a part of it!