Last weekend was very exciting: I got to travel all the way to Italy, to be part of the wonderful Mare di Libri festival.

Mare di Libri is a very special festival – it’s the only one I’ve ever been to where everything, from the line-up to the logistics, is organised by people who are under 18. It’s such a great idea, and it all worked perfectly. I think it was one of the best-run festivals I’ve ever been to!

I was there to talk about my books, Il Mistero del Guggenheim and Omicidi per Signorine. It was so amazing to see that they’ve really reached Italian readers, and I have Italian fans!

Because I don’t speak much Italian at all, everything I said at my talks was translated by an incredibly talented woman called Chiara, who I am slightly in awe of. She managed to interview me in both English and Italian, and be very clever in both languages.

I did one talk about Siobhan Dowd, with Thornhill author Pam Smy, and another about my murder mystery books. I was also interviewed by Arianna from il Filo di Arianna – it should be up on her YouTube channel for you to watch soon (and you should subscribe to her videos now!).

I had a great time – below are some of my favourite pictures from the weekend. Thank you so much to the Mare di Libri organisers, and to my two Italian publishers, Mondadori and Uovonero. I’m a lucky author!