SLG Scotland’s evening with Elle McNicoll

Category: Blog, Branches and Groups, News, Professional Development, SLG Scotland

School Libraries Group Scotland were delighted to host author Elle McNicoll on 15 February for our first virtual networking event of 2022. We asked Elle – author of A Kind of Spark, Show Us Who You Are and Like a Charm – to talk about the importance of sharing diverse voices (including neurodivergent voices) in our libraries, and to think about the voices we’re not currently hearing. We hoped librarians would be inspired to champion these stories to young people after the event, and we weren’t disappointed. 

It was an inspirational evening. SLG Scotland committee member Derek France welcomed Elle and almost forty school librarians to the event, before Elle shared the unconventional story of how she became a published author, and a champion for children who deserve to see themselves in the stories they read. Elle’s books feature positive representation within a good story, where autism is not the plot, but where children can read about autistic characters experiencing different kinds of storyworld adventures, from the science-fictional to the fantastical: because every child deserves to see themselves in all kinds of stories. 

Elle’s talk also highlighted the impact of author visits. On her school visits she talks to children about neurodivergence, and explains that people’s minds work in different ways to do the same thing: like Samsungs and iPhones. Giving school pupils the opportunity to see and hear from a neurodivergent role model is hugely important for all children, but especially neurodivergent children, who can be encouraged to share and celebrate the way their mind works. 

We had lots of positive feedback from the event: 

• Elle talked very passionately about her work and it was great to discuss ideas and experiences with other librarians and with Elle. 
• It was very informative [both] about Elle’s books and the importance of neurodiversity representation as a whole. Elle is a very engaging speaker (not to mention wonderful author). It was also a nice mix of presentation/Q&A/networking. All of it together gave me a lot to take back to the library. 
• It was really inspiring and I will be sharing Elle’s books with everyone. 
• Elle was an engaging and enthusiastic and passionate speaker. It was great to hear her talk, and answer questions so fully. 
• Elle’s talk was fantastic – very inspiring. I would love to share it with our pupils. 
• Absolutely fantastic event! Elle was so engaging, and great to hear her backstory and to hear from a new diverse voice. I was aware of her first title but not her others, so this has raised my awareness of new titles which I am now ordering for stock. 
• Elle was really interesting to listen to, her books are listed on our council RED book award this year so it was good to see/hear her and have some information to pass on to pupils. 
• Really inspiring and inclusive event and talk. Elle was fascinating to listen to – it would be amazing if she could be heard in every classroom across Scotland. Her open and honest approach is refreshing and inspirational, and underlines the need for all children to feel important and included. 
• Please do more events like this one! 

We got lots of great suggestions of topics for future events, from sharing tips on training pupil library assistants to supporting numeracy in the library. Please keep an eye on @slgscotland where we will be announcing our next event soon – and thanks to everyone who came along to this one!