The Silent Screams

Barbara Henderson is an Inverness-based children's writer and Drama teacher. Her energetic school visits take her across the length and breadth of Scotland, and sometimes beyond. As a teacher, she loves to get young people on their feet as they respond to stories. 'Writing is like magic,' she says. 'I see something in my imagination, and I try to capture it by writing it down - nothing more than black marks on white paper. Much later, young people see these black marks on white paper and suddenly they see something too, feel something of their own. I cannot think of anything more special than that.' She shares her home with her teenage son, her long-suffering husband and a scruffy Schnauzer called Merry.