Images from school visits, book signings and more!

Gallery

World Book Day Tour 2024

School visits and library events across the UK to mark World Book Day (7th March).

P.G. Bell with a young reader dressed as Willy Wonka, holding a copy of The Great Brain Robbery
Meeting a young fan at Forest Gate Academy, Manchester.
P.G. Bell talking to an audience of school children. The children are seated on the floor in the school hall, and are wearing fancy dress. The cover of The Train to Impossible Places is visible on a screen behind P.G. Bell.
A whole-school assembly at Forest Gate Academy in Manchester for World Book Day.
Pupils from St Joseph's Primary School, standing with P.G. Bell in Port Talbot Library.
With pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School, Port Talbot Library.
P.G. Bell sitting at a desk, signing a copy of The Train to Impossible Places. Three male pupils stand behind him, smiling and giving thumbs up
Signing books for fans at Telford Priory School, Telford.
A young boy with ginger hair, wearing a navy blue postmaster's uniform and a large cardboard recreation of the Impossible Postal Express around his body. He holds a copy of The Train to Impossible Places and gives a thumbs up.
A brilliant World Book Day costume worn by a fan and sent to me by his mum!
The exterior of Whitchurch Library. It is a small but handsome red brick building with palm trees, a box hedge and a small lawn outside. A war memorial with a bronze statue of a soldier stands in the foreground.
The beautiful Whitchurch Library in Cardiff.
P.G. Bell poses with two young readers - a brother and sister in winter jackets. He holds a copy of The Train to Impossible Places. The young boy holds a drawing of two zombies he's made on a postcard.
Helping young storytellers craft brand new Impossible Places in my worldbuilding workshop at Whitchurch Library, Cardiff.
P.G. Bell sits with young school children in red jumpers. The children are drawing and colouring on blank postcards.
Creating strange new worlds at Witton-le-Wear Primary School, County Durham.
The exterior of Cardiff Central railway station at night. The building is lit in pink and yellow light. The words Great Western Railway are carved over the doors.
School visits often mean an early start. I’ve seen Cardiff Central station at all hours.
P.G. Bell leans over two female pupils, reading the work they've been doing in their exercise books.
Helping pupils at Partington Central Academy in Manchester to build their own stories.
P.G. Bell, Jayne from Storyville Bookshop, and pupils from Trawllng Infants School pose together in the school hall
I had a great time chatting to pupils at Trawllng Infants School in Pontypridd about being a writer.

In Time of Need - behind the scenes

A look behind the camera on my short film, In Time of Need, for BBC Wales.

An exterior view of the Cardiff & Vale College campus on Dumballs Road, Cardiff. It's a very modern, angular building of glass and steel.
The film was shot entirely on location at the Cardiff & Vale College building in Cardiff.
A group of crew, including a camera operator and sound man, stand on a balcony overlooking the central atrium of the college building. A young actor, Noah Jones, leans against the railings with his arms folded. He is wearing school uniform and headphones.
Actor Noah Jones awaits his next scene while the crew set up.
A close up of a digital tablet propped on a table. On the tablet's screen we see a feed from the camera, showing a film slate with actor Noah Jones out-of-focus in the background. To the right of the camera feed is a window displaying the script for the scene about to be filmed.
Andrew Creak’s pictures on the left and my script on the right.
The main cast of In Time of Need pose together on a spiral staircase in the college library. They are all teenagers in school uniform, with the exception of one man dressed as a medieval knight.
The main cast. L-R: Max Couper (seated); Thomas Rees; Georgia Barley; Ben McGregor; Noah Jones; Emily Allan.
A circular stone medallion with a Welsh dragon design in the centre. The words "In Time of Need" are etched around the top.
Be careful what you wish for when holding this medallion.
A slate or clapper board for In Time of Need. It lists Andrew Creak as the director and Mei Lewis as the camera operator. The scene marked on the slate is Scene 10, Shot 77, Take 3.
Director Andrew Creak completed the whole shoot ahead of schedule.
Director Andrew Creak addresses the cast in the college atrium. It's a large, airy space with a glass ceiling.
Director Andrew Creak prepares the cast for the film’s final shots.
Three men stand on the balcony of the college library, overlooking the atrium. P.G. Bell is on the left- bald, bearded and wearing glasses, a burgundy polo shirt and jeans. Andrew Creak stands in the centre. He is taller than the other two, with glasses, a white shirt, jeans and headphones. Ben McGregor is on the right, dressed as a medieval knight with a sword.
L-R: Me, your humble screenwriter; Andrew Creak, our director; the brilliant Ben McGregor as Galahad.

The Mab Trail, Pontypridd

The tales of The Mab are depicted in story stones around Pontypridd, south Wales.

P.G. Bell, a bald, middle aged (but thoroughly good looking) man with a beard, poses with a copy of The Mab. He stands behind a story stone inscribed with "The Mab Trail". It's a bright sunny day, and the old bridge across the river Taff is visible behind him.
The Mab trail starts at this stone overlooking the river Taff behind Pontypridd Museum, with a great view of the Old Bridge.
Claire Fayers, a woman with glasses and short grey/copper hair, kneels in the grass beside the stone depicting her story, "The Strange and Spectacular Dream of Rhonabwy the Restless."
Author Claire Fayers with her story stone for “The Strange and Spectacular Dream of Rhonabwy the Restless”, illustrated by Max Low. Pontypridd Common.
A Mab Trail story stone. The stone is set into the grass of a hillside, with a raised circular design in the centre, depicting a man on horseback hunting deer in a forest. Around the outside of the design, in gold lettering, is the title "Geraint, Enid and the Big Knight Fight". The title is repeated in Welsh.
The story stone for my story, “Geraint, Enid and the Big Knight Fight” on Pontypridd Common. Illustrated by Max Low.
A close up photo of P.G. Bell, a middle aged man with a beard, glasses and a bald head. His face and forehead have been decorated with facepaint depicting stars and planets in bright colours. He is wearing a hi-vis vest and stands outside Pontypridd Museum in bright sunshine.
Yours truly, all glammed up and ready to lead a walking tour of the Mab Trail as part of Pontypridd’s Children’s Book Festival 2023.
P.G. Bell, wearing a high vis vest, stands part way up a flight of stone stairs, addressing a small crowd of adults and children. They are all surrounded by high stone walls leading up towards the Old Bridge in the background.
Me, setting off with a group of adventurers to tour part of the Mab Trail at the Pontypridd Children’s Book Festival 2023.
An avenue of trees in a park. The sun shines through the branches and we see a group of adults and children all walking together, facing away from the camera.
Leading a walking tour through beautiful Ynysangharad Park in search of story stones.
A Mab Trail story stone. The stone is set into the grass of a park, with a raised circular design in the centre, depicting a long black arm reaching through a castle window to snatch a sleeping baby. Around the outside of the design, in gold lettering, is the title "Rhiannon, Pwyll and the Hideous Claw." The title is repeated in Welsh.
The stone for Matt Brown’s story, “Rhiannon, Pwyll and the Hideous Claw”, illustrated by Max Low. Ynysangharad Park.
A Mab Trail story stone. The stone is set into the grass of a park, with a raised circular design in the centre, depicting a woman on a hilltop, her arms raised, dissolving into a flock of birds. Around the outside of the design, in gold lettering, is the title "Branwen and the Cauldron of Rebirth." The title is repeated in Welsh.
The story stone for Sophie Anderson’s story, “Branwen and the Cauldron of Rebirth” in Ynysangharad Park, illustrated by Max Low.
The interior of St Catherine's Church in Pontypridd. It is built in a neo-gothic style and richly decorated with red, grey and white tiles. People sit in the pews facing three authors sitting in front of the choir stalls.
The Mab was launched by editors Matt Brown and Eloise Williams, and co-author Hanan Issa, in the beautiful setting of St Catherine’s Church, Pontypridd.
Max Low, a slim young man in a red and blue checked shirt, draws one of his Mab characters on a flipchart. An illustration from The Mab is projected onto a screen beside him. An audience sits in the foreground. We see the backs of their heads.
The Mab’s illustrator Max Low delivering a fantastic tutorial at Pontypridd’s Children’s Book Festival, 2022.
A Mab Trail story stone. The stone is set on a grassy hilltop, with a raised circular design in the centre, depicting a knight confronting a giant snake coiled around a tower of stones. Around the outside of the design, in gold lettering, is the title "Peredur, the Monster and the Serpent of the Cairn". The title is repeated in Welsh. Trees and a ring of standing stones are visible beyond the stone.
The stone for Darren Chetty’s story, “Peredur, the Monster and the Serpent of the Cairn” illustrated by Max Low. What a perfect setting!
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