Amber Lee Dodd is an award-winning children’s author and short-story writer. Her work includes the critically acclaimed novels We Are Giants, Lightning Chase Me Home and The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley. Her short fiction has been published internationally and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Amber is a 2023 bursary artist with Moat Brae, the National Centre of Children’s Literature and Storytelling, developing an author project for children. She lives in Glasgow where she is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Glasgow.

Amber is neurodivergent and has worked in learning support for pupils with disabilities and learning difficulties fuelling her passion to make writing and literature accessible to all.In August 2022, Amber undertook an Open (Independently Funded) Residency developing new work in children’s literature then joined Cove Park Associates, a free to join membership programme for former residents.

In October 2023, after a general call application process, Amber was awarded the Associates Artists in Schools Residency – a fully funded one-week residency for a Cove Park Associate based in Scotland. The residency was linked to the creation and delivery of two half-day workshops for pupils at John Logie Baird Primary School (Nurture Unit), in Helensburgh, within an area experiencing a high level of deprivation as measured by Scottish Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.

At John Logie Baird, Amber gave a presentation to the whole school assembly before working with two of the nurture groups (approximately 100 pupils at assembly, 8 pupils in the nurture groups).

Feedback on Amber’s workshop from Helen Normington of John Logie Baird Primary School’s Nurture Unit:

“Having Amber visit us was a super event! The whole school benefitted from the presentation she gave about her journey to becoming an author. Through her openness about the challenges that she has overcome, the children really connected with her, asking her questions about her work and sharing with her stories of their own challenges. Many of the pupils were inspired by Amber and have expressed an interest in reading her books and also a desire to be writers themselves. During the workshops she ran, the children thoroughly enjoyed following her lead when she demonstrated to them about how she uses art and visual images to help her create and develop her stories. When given the opportunity to try this for themselves, they came up with some wonderful visual story ideas of their own. It was a great day of positive and motivational experiences all round.”  

Amber Lee Dodd presenting at John Logie Baird Primary School, Helensburgh, 2023.