Puppetry for Authors

Looking for a new way to share stories? My name is Debra Williams, puppeteer, puppet builder and author. I first dabbled in puppetry at age 5, then at 10 staged puppet shows in the street for the other kids. I created my first puppets as an adult to engage children in the classroom, at church and in school assemblies with storytelling back in 1991. They are an effective way of bringing your story to life. They are also a great way to have children interact with your story.

Over the years, people began enquiring where they could get puppets like mine, so my late husband John Clewer and I started taking custom orders. He developed our first website back in 1999, and many custom builds have gone around the world since.

I began my author journey in 2015. With three self-published MG novels under my belt, I brought my protagonist and another character to life in 2019. Currently, I have a Junior Fiction title being published and I will create characters for the book when released. I am a member of the Creative Kid’s Tales Network and several Facebook authors groups. Since 2018 I have been bringing other author’s characters to life, both here and in the U.S. Some are repeat customers. I charge reasonable rates and custom orders can vary due to the type of fabric required, the fabric cost and the amount of work involved.

If you are looking for something unique for your author appearances, YouTubes, school visits and/or library visits, you might like to have a character created for the purpose. When I released my third self-published novel in 2019, I ran a kid’s writing workshop at our local library and had my protagonist, with props, as a co-host on the day. I have run puppet-making and training workshops since 2002, and for those who haven’t used puppets before, I can include how-to notes and tips. My site is: www.clewerpuppets.com. I am on Facebook under Clewer Puppets and Debra Clewer-author.