Martin Chatterton

Presentations

Martin’s performances feature large-scale interactive ‘live’ drawing, ‘mind-reading’ and plenty of audience participation. Wide-ranging and funny, the sessions include sharply targeted insights into different kinds of writing, the intricacies of the publishing industry, the telling of tall tales, story ‘beginnings’, and personalised dissections of what goes into a book, all of which draw and expand on Martin’s thirty year writing and illustrating journey. Martin is skilled at delivering key educational motivation contained within an entertaining external package and is particularly adept at engaging reluctant readers. Martin has appeared in front of audiences of over a thousand but is equally at home in more intimate settings.

Martin’s sessions run across all age grades and are tailored accordingly. As a globally successful and experienced children’s writer and illustrator his ‘core’ sessions are ideal for grades 3-7. Higher grades benefit from his broader writing skills, as a crime fiction writer, screenwriter and via his work as an academic. At the upper end of the school in grades 10, 11 and 12, Martin shifts the focus to thought-provoking subjects emerging from his PhD: most notably slavery, history, art as witness, themes of memory, and a more indepth examination of the differing approaches to writing. You can get an idea of what to expect by visiting Martin’s website (worldofchatterton.com) and watching the short video, The Banana Chronicles on the Performing page.

Workshops

Martin offers a range of workshops across a number of subjects from Years 1–12. He can also work with schools to deliver tailor-made programs in a particular genre or subject area. Workshops usually last one hour but can be longer if timetable allows. A double session (2 hours) is ideal for some workshops but, as always, we’ll work with you to fit around a school schedule. Here is a quick overview:
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
• Comedic Writing – how comedy works, why it’s so hard
• Tall Tales – a workshop about harnessing exaggeration
• Beginnings & Endings – how to add ‘snap’
• Screenwriting – many possible options
• Story Ingredients – why you can’t write without them
• Know What You Write, Write What You Know – using personal experience to fuel stories
• Poetry in Motion – engaging reluctant readers
• Persuasive Text – a workshop based around advertising techniques and strategy
VISUAL & APPLIED ART
• Draw Along – Martin guides students step-by-step
• Design Thinking – a problem is set which requires the students to think outside the box
• Character Design – a drawing/design workshop for a proposed animation series
• Illustration & Text –many variations, but all emphasise the central point that Illustration is always reflecting a text
• Publishing – a glimpse into how publishing works by asking students to consider the reader’s needs
• Comic Strip – students are guided through the process of creating a short comic strip
• The Brief – introducing the concept of ‘a brief’ • Less Is More – a graphic design workshop built around ‘simplicity’
CRITICAL & CREATIVE THINKING
• Think Like A Designer – how design thinking helps you become a better problem solver
• Hybrids – a workshop encouraging students to embrace the idea of hybrid thinking and skills
• Sell, Sell, Sell – an advertising/storyboard workshop which challenges students to create a creative and effective selling strategy for a difficult client

NEW ZEALAND ONLY