Pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 were delighted to have the opportunity to meet author Alan Gibbons who has written a wide range of children’s literature over the past twenty-eight years. More recently his award winning novel, ‘Shadow of the Minotaur’, has been received with great praise by top literary critics and is now an international best seller.
Mr Gibbons, a former teacher, quickly captivated the pupils with his very funny anecdotes. He later went on to coach pupils on the craft of writing fiction and was on hand to answer their questions as well as make suggestions to improve their writing.
After the event, Layla in Year 3 commented “Mr Gibbons tells very funny stories” while Renaaz in Year 4 said “The best bit of the session was when we learnt how Mr Gibbons became an author, it was very interesting and funny. I’d like to be an author one day too”. Another Year 4 pupil (who wishes not to be named) also said, “My favourite part of today was writing this paragraph, I think it is my best writing so far”. It wasn’t just the pupils who enjoyed the workshops; Mrs Harris said “I am inspired to finish my own book now!” While Ms Moghadam commented “Alan had everybody in stitches, the children couldn’t wait to continue their writing in the classroom”.
We were very pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to nurture young talent and look forward to working with more authors from the UK in the future. Mrs Jobes summed up the day by saying, “The pupils were literally buzzing after each workshop. They continued to talk about their writing in the dining room at break!”