Last week I visited my alma mater, Warwick University, and spoke to some creative writing students and teachers there about my work. Questions were challenging (in a good way) and it was exciting to see some advance paperback copies of Hideous Creatures on the university bookshop shelves. Big love to my friend Jenny, who organised the event and then took me on a nostalgia tour of the campus where we bungled our way through together as undergrads. She and the current crop of creative writing masters students are putting together an anthology which you can preview here.
The following day I went into Bluecoat School in nearby Coventry, and spent some time with their creative writing club and a few English classes. I loved hearing about what the students are reading - lots of dystopian Young Adult fiction, from the sound of it - and seeing their enthusiasm for stories. Questions ranged from the curious and incisive to the brilliantly surreal; year 9 asked my opinion on everything from seagulls to Spider-Man.
I was a keen painter, mediocre musician and a secretive, passionate scribbler throughout my school years and I'm alarmed by the creeping marginalisation of the arts in secondary schools. Kudos to the dedicated teachers I met at Bluecoat who continue to bring the subject alive for their students, despite all the pressures they face.
The following day I went into Bluecoat School in nearby Coventry, and spent some time with their creative writing club and a few English classes. I loved hearing about what the students are reading - lots of dystopian Young Adult fiction, from the sound of it - and seeing their enthusiasm for stories. Questions ranged from the curious and incisive to the brilliantly surreal; year 9 asked my opinion on everything from seagulls to Spider-Man.
I was a keen painter, mediocre musician and a secretive, passionate scribbler throughout my school years and I'm alarmed by the creeping marginalisation of the arts in secondary schools. Kudos to the dedicated teachers I met at Bluecoat who continue to bring the subject alive for their students, despite all the pressures they face.
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