Drumming up an audience with my superhero cape!

It probably helps that when you step off the train at Barnes Station, you feel more like you’re entering an enchanted wood than a London suburb, but my first experience of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival was really magical.

It was slightly nerve-wracking to discover that my 10.30am free session had an audience of precisely no one at 10.27am. But – abracadabra – by 10.30am a pretty-much full-house had appeared. They listened attentively to The Niggle, joined in the actions, and then made some awesome superhero capes and masks

And then I was left spell-bound by some real-life superheroes: Axel Scheffler with his enviably fluid drawings; Frank Cottrell Boyce with his ease of expression; Libby Jackson with inspirational tales of women in space. Magical!