School & Library Visits

Host­ing David Macin­nis Gill at School, Library, and Other Events

Con­tact:

You can reach David directly by using the con­tact web form on this web­site or via email at thun­der­chikin at me dot com. Or if you would rather work through David’s pub­lisher, you can use the Harper­Collins website’s info page about author vis­its.

Vis­its:

David does two types of vis­its–Skype and in-person.

Skype vis­its:

For vis­its of one hour or less, David donates Skype time to school and libraries, so the visit is free. He gen­er­ally does a short intro to his work and then answers ques­tions from students/teens. He can also sing, but that’s not really a good idea.

In-person:

David is happy to visit your school or library or appear in your events. As a for­mer high school teacher, he’s espe­cially com­fort­able speak­ing to teens. Also, it helps the audi­ence get more out of the visit if they have read David’s work in advance (it gives every­one some­thing to talk about besides David’s ter­ri­ble fash­ion sense).

Types of Appearances:

  • Full Day (up to 7 hours)
  • Full day vis­its three day­time events for teens and adults. Typ­i­cal events include:
  • Audi­to­rium speech/reading and Q&A ses­sions– 45 to 90 minutes
  • Class­room pre­sen­ta­tions — 30 to 50 minutes
  • Writ­ing work­shops for classes (works best for 10–30 par­tic­i­pants) — 60 to 90 minutes
  • Library pre­sen­ta­tion — 45 to 90 minutes
  • Lunch and din­ner are not con­sid­ered “events.” David is happy to join your stu­dents and fac­ulty for lunch and/or din­ner on full days.

Half-Day (up to 3.5 hours)

  • Half-Day events include the writ­ing work­shop for classes (works best for 10–30 par­tic­i­pants) for 60 to 90 min­utes AND one of the following:
  • Library pre­sen­ta­tion — 45 to 60 minutes
  • Audi­to­rium read­ing and Q&A ses­sions– 45 to 60 minutes

David’s Travel Needs:

David packs light and trav­els eas­ily. He brings his own AV equip­ment (except for a micro­phone) and doesn’t ask for spe­cial accom­mo­da­tions or meals (The only thing he can’t eat is onions (he doesn’t like them, and they don’t like him)). He would prefer:

  • A hotel with Inter­net and a non-smoking room. Please send him the name/contact info of the hotel in advance, as well as the con­fir­ma­tion num­ber if you book the room.
  • Trans­porta­tion to and from sites for the visit.
  • The name of a local host and an emer­gency con­tact num­ber, just in case
  • Tips for Author Visits:
  • David’s Pub­lisher, Green­wil­low Books/HarperCollins has an excel­lent web­site with tips for arrang­ing author vis­its and request­ing authors here.

FAQ @ Expenses:

If your school lacks the funds to host an author. Con­sider split­ting the cost with another orga­ni­za­tion. David is will­ing to split time between school sys­tems, libraries, etc.

Host­ing an author usu­ally means you will incur three expenses: hotel charges, air­fare, and the hon­o­rar­ium. David’s hon­o­rar­ium is nego­tiable depend­ing on travel time, and pay­ment is expected at the close of the visit. Travel expenses (hotel and air) can be paid directly by the host or via reim­burse­ment. Please tell David which method you pre­fer. Reim­burse­ment is expected within thirty days.

If you have any ques­tions, please con­tact David at thun­der­chikin AT gmail.com or via the Con­tact web form or con­tact Harper­Collins via their web­site above.