Exciting News! I am the Cornwall Libraries National Year of Reading Ambassador for 2026. I’ll be visiting all corners of Cornwall and hope to celebrate the National Year of Reading with your families.
My family and I are delighted to have become Cornish residents and I’ll be visiting as many schools and libraries, bookshops and festival across Cornwall as I can throughout 2026.
Meet me in person – coming up next …
10.30 am Saturday 24 October 2026
Falmouth Book Festival £1.50
More here thepoly.org/whats-on/event/4873/
Introducing Cornwall Libraries National Year of Reading 2026
My 2026 Cornish Diary Highlights
January – Kicked off the national year of reading with my FREE 5 part story to readaloud based on the real wartime journal of a girl called Inga from her life first in Vienna, Austria 1937-39 and then in Falmouth, Cornwall 1939-1944. More here
Saturday 24 January 2026
Perranporth Library opening
I loved reading from my new book and meeting readers at the grand opening of their amazing new library!
I hope to be visiting all the libraries of Cornwall this summer.
February
Hosted the schools book quiz for Cornwall Libraries at Kresen Kernow. Well done to the winning school!
March
Thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of IF THE INVADER COMES, we took it to Trebah Garden(one of its inspirational Cornish settings) to celebrate. What a place!Took my first copy of If the Invader Comes to Trebah Gardens.
I was also due to visit Five Islands Academy and St Mary’s Library but was unable to fly due to the weather, but hope to go soon!
April
Visited the lovely Shrew Books, Fowey to buy some books and set up pre-order signed booksales for If the Invader Comes.
More here.
May
I launched If the Invader Comes at Trebah Gardens on 7 May 2026
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Its Book 1 in my new Cornish Trilogy Allies for children, set in the Second World War.
“A gripping Cornish wartime story” – Cornwall Libraries
Order signed books from Shew Books, Fowey here.
Follow my Cornish journey of researching & writing Allies here.
June 1940, with the spectre of a Nazi invasion looming over Britain, three Cornish children – Bobble, Cadan and Cilla – are involved in vital but top-secret war work. The unlikely trio initially struggle to trust one another, but when Cadan spots a German E-boat during a Fal River patrol and Cilla discovers a crashed Stuka on a Cornish RAF airfield, they realise the menace is closer than they thought.
More here.
I was also invited on to Radio Cornwall to introduce my new book and met loads of Cornish families when I visited lots of Cornish schools and bookshops and libraries!
Mon 25 May 2026
Waterstones Truro
May-June 2026 Cornwall Libraries Tour
- A Q&A about my new book
- A look inside my notebooks and research process
- A discussion about how i became an author
- The chance to purchase my books
- The first 5 families to attend received a free signed copy, donated by my publisher Barrington Stoke
Sat 23 May 2026 Hayle Camborne Redruth
Tues 26 May 2026 Bodmin Wadebridge Camelford
Wed 27 May 2026 St Columb Newquay Perranporth St Agnes
Thurs 28 May 2026 St Ives Penzance St Just
Fri 29 May 2026 Helston Falmouth Penryn Truro
Sat 30 May 2026 Lostwithiel Fowey St Austell
Mon 1 June 2026 Liskeard Saltash Torpoint
Tues 2 June 2026 Callington Launceston Par
Sat 6 June 2027 Royal Cornwall Show
13 June St Austell Festival
August
Looe Libraries organised a great Family Reading Session
I also went to Bodmin Leisure Centre for a football session
September
Back to school visits
October
Exploding Words Festival with Cornwall & Devon schools
Falmouth Festival
Visiting Richard Lander School
November
Visiting lots of Cornish schools to mark Remembrance
Visiting the schools with the highest % of its pupils finishing the Cornwall Reading Challenge with Cornwall Libraries
December
January 2027
Visiting lots of Cornish schools to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
Tom says” It is my absolute honour to be the National Year of Reading ambassador for Cornwall Libraries. Cornwall is my favourite place on earth and where my family and I will be living permanently from January onwards. I also love libraries. Libraries changed my life and gave me access to the books that gave me access to the world. So this is a perfect role for me. I will do everything I can to champion Cornwall’s libraries and all the good work they do.”
Councillor Sarah Preece, Cabinet Member for Libraries and Culture at Cornwall Council, added: “This partnership is a fantastic boost for Cornwall’s National Year of Reading. With Tom’s involvement, we’ll reach young people and encourage them to connect with stories that reflect their own interests and passions. It’s wonderful to see Cornwall’s Libraries highlighting that reading can be sparked by what people love the most.”
My other stories set in Cornwall
I’ve already set a children’s book in Cornwall from my Defenders series, published by Barrington Stoke.
In Pitch Invasion, Seth and Nadiya specialise in solving ghostly hauntings at football venues, which take them to settings including an Iron Age Celtic hill fort, Cornwall. (Based on
More here
More of my books set in the South West …
Buy Books
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Email me here for more information or use my contact form here to ask me a question.
Thank you.
