Nicola Davies 
'I think almost everyone I've worked with now knows how to sing like a humpbacked whale!'
Nicola worked at the BBC Natural History Unit, first as a researcher and later as presenter on The Really Wild Show.
Contents
About Nicola Davies
Nicola Davies's School Visits
Nicola's Books
Recommendations & Reviews
To Make a Booking
About Nicola Davies
'I have been working with children in schools and at festivals, for longer than I have been a writer. I began giving talks about natural history to primary school children whilst I was still a zoology student. When I was a TV and radio presenter I worked with live audiences of children and began to go into schools to run writing workshops.'
'I don't remember a time when I wasn't utterly besotted with animals. I spent all my time before I went to school, in the garden with my lovely Grandpa (who was small and round and had all sorts of things in his cardigan pockets) looking at flowers, and ants and bird's nests.'
Nicola did a zoology degree and went on to study various animals in the wild; Nicola's first job was studying geese in Scotland, her second was hand rearing jackdaws and her third was watching humpbacked whales from an uninhabited island in Newfoundland.
She's seen all sorts of animals, all over the world: chameleons in Madagascar, turtles in the Seychelles, walruses in the Arctic, bat eared foxes in Kenya, salt water crocodiles in Australia. But she still loves the animals that are within reach of her home in Wales: the ravens and red kites, the grey seals and the choughs, the roe deer and foxes, even the blackbirds that nest in her tiny garden.
Nicola Davies's School Visits
Nicola works in schools delivering presentations to big audiences about zoology, conservation and writing. These are something like a cross between the Royal Society Lectures and stand up comedy for children and young people. She also does presentations for teachers and parents about her work and about using the natural world as a stimulus for children's writing and creativity.
Workshops
In Nicola's writing workshops she works with children in primary and secondary schools. These workshops are based on natural history as a jumping off point for the children's writing - poems, prose, stories, short drama pieces.
Nicola is happy to tailor her visits for each teacher/schools needs, workshops are tailored to the needs of each group. Typically Nicola works with groups of 15 to 25, or class-sized groups of around 30, working with each one for an hour or hour and a half and meeting three to four different groups in one day.
Nicola's Books
'Seeing animals in the wild delights me,' she says, ‘and it's that delight I want to share with my readers.'
Why is poo brown? What creature can survive in space? Why aren't blue whales even bigger and how do tapeworms get into your tummy? If you'd like to know the answer to any of these questions, and you like weird and wonderful facts about animals, then these books are for you.
Each book covers one subject in biology, and contains lots and lots of information, all packaged up in a readable, fun and funny text and illustrated with Neal Layton's wonderful, witty pictures. Boys love reading these books, which have been chosen to be part of the Boys Into Books reading scheme.
Rubbish Town Hero
The adventure story Rubbish Town Hero, is due to be published in 2012.
Home
Home is a science fiction novel for older children and teenagers. Home is an exciting adventure story but it is also about important a relationship with nature is for humans' sense of belonging and well being.
Up On The Hill
For 8- 12 year olds. The children in ‘Up on The Hill' all find a way through life's problems with the help of an animal.
Silver Street Farm
The books in the Silver Street Farm series are about children setting up a city farm (four books so far, with more to follow) The Silver Street books are light hearted and entertaining with underlying information about farming and animal welfare. With short chapters and carefully chosen language these books are perfect for early readers but funny enough to keep older fluent readers happy.
A Girl Called Dog
A Girl Called Dog is an adventure story about a young girl and her two animal friends and their long journey home. Exciting and dark in places but also full of charm, this is ultimately an uplifting and inspiring story for fluent readers of 8- 12.
Gaia Warriors
Gaia Warriors is a book all about climate change, written to be easily readable for 12 to 16 year olds. It explains the science of climate change as a series of answers to basic questions such as ‘How do we know the climate is changing?' and ‘How do we know it's our fault?' But explaining the problem is only half of what Gaia Warriors is about: the second half of the book is about solutions. Nicola interviewed people from all over the world who are working out ways to fight climate change, and their voices fill the second half of the book.
Gaia Warriors shows people that they have to power to create change and that there are as many ways of fighting the huge problem of climate change as there are people in the world
From Gaia Warriors:
'Unless you've been hiding under a stone for years, you'll have heard about climate change; all those scary predictions about melting ice caps, killer storms, rising sea levels and severe droughts. But maybe you've been telling yourself 'oh it won't really happen' or 'it won't happen for a hundred years'.
Well, it's happening right now, already, all over the world...'
Recommendations & Reviews
Here's what three teachers at a conference in Boston felt about Nicola's presentation:
'Terrific - loved it! Wow! So wonderful! I'm very happy to be a teacher!'
'Dynamic presenter - brings passion, enthusiasm to the writing process, and completely accomplishes her mission in empowering all of us as nonfiction authors.'
'Fabulous, inspiring speaker! Pack everyone into the room so we can hear her all day.'
Here's what teachers say about Nicola's work with their pupils:
'Never failing to fascinate, enthral and entertain, Nicola is a highly gifted communicator who is able to modulate her material, tone and teaching style to fit the needs of very different individuals. The greatest testimony comes from the reluctant writers who, after attending a week's workshop, begin to think of themselves as valued writers with something worth saying. I wish we could do this every day.'
Eva John , Pembrokeshire Teachers Centre
'I've worked with Nicola on two Year 7/8 reluctant writers' writing squads and have been amazed and impressed at the standard of work the pupils achieved during the week's work. I only wish that I had been able to benefit from her inspiring methods when I was teaching, as not only does she improve the pupils' standards of writing, but their attitudes to and enjoyment of writing is enhanced as well.'
Ann Morris - retired primary headteacher/advisory teacher
A review of Nicola's books:
'Nicola Davies is an author who gets the balance exactly right. Her scientific love of the particular translates into the precise well chosen language that so appeals to children. There is not a word too many,there is not a word out of place ... near-poetic narrative.'
Times Educational Supplement
To Make a Booking
To make an enquiry about Nicola Davies, or any of the other authors, poets & illustrators listed on this website, please phone Trevor Wilson on +44 (0) 1535 656015, or email him at info@authorsabroad.com
Further information on Nicola Davies is available on her website: www.nicola-davies.com