Joseph Elliott and the Adventures of Nora!

Nora, the leather-jacket-wearing, greatest of great grandmothers was welcomed to the South Transept of Chichester Cathedral on Saturday 19th July as her creator, Joseph Elliott, told us all about her and her outrageous antics.

If you’ve ever watched Swashbuckle, Horrible Histories, Class Dismissed or a CBeebies panto, you’ll already have a taste of the hilarity that Joseph Elliott inspires. His first books for children were the highly acclaimed Shadow Skye books for readers 12 and older and with the Nora stories, he brings his brilliance to a middle grade audience.

Nora is a sarcastic, axe-wielding great-grandmother who has a secret history as a Monster Hunter. Her great-grandkids, Atticus and Autumn, have no idea that their GG (great grandma) is actually a living legend, and part of the fun of these stories is the challenges they present, and solve, along the way.

Joseph involved everyone in making up their very own monster using dice and an ingeniously low-tech monster generator, demonstrating how it can be a starting point for potential story ideas, character traits, settings and twists which can quickly lead you to unexpected places!

The added beauty of this event was that it took part within the Cathedral itself as part of the 950 celebrations, which meant that some of the people who were just visiting with their young people stopped by to join the fun! Every donation made or ticket bought makes a huge difference to our fundraising targets, and we’re so thankful to Joseph for bringing his talent and generous heart all the way to Chichester to inspire both the children and their grown-ups.