Authors inspire young readers in run-up to Steyning school’s book awards

Alan Gibbons and Ruth Eastham spoke to Steyning Grammar School students about their work and what inspired them as part of the run-up to the Brilliant Book Awards.

Alan was the first to visit, speaking to students in Years 9 and 10 on June 1 about his book ‘Hate’.

He was followed two days later by Ruth who told Year 7 students the inspiration behind her book ‘Arrowhead’.

Both books have been shortlisted for the Brilliant Book Awards, which was organised by staff at the school’s Learning Resource Centre in association with Steyning Book Shop.

The aim of the awards is to encourage students, staff and members of the community to read books they wouldn’t normally read and to celebrate the value of reading for pleasure.

Students nominated their favourite books which were compiled into lists for each year group to read, including one for Year 6 students at Steyning Primary School and one for sixth-formers, staff and the local community to read.

School librarian Donna Moore said: “The Brilliant Book Award has enabled us to present students with a choice of books to read for a specific purpose, and it has been great to have so many of the authors coming to talk to students about their books and inspiration for writing them.

“Reading for pleasure should not be a chore and it has shown students that reading books they wouldn’t normally choose can be made even more exciting when they meet the author who wrote the book they have just finished reading.”

Alan, who has been writing books for over 20 years, was winner of the Blue Peter Book Award in 2000 for ‘Shadow of the Minotaur’.

Students were enthralled with his entertaining account of what has inspired him to write some of his sometimes hard hitting and very thought provoking stories.

He told the youngsters ‘Hate’ was written after he heard of a true story in which a girl was killed because of what she chose to wear; while his story ‘The Edge’ was written because of his memories of domestic abuse occurring near his childhood home.

The awards ceremony will be held at the school on Friday June 26 and will be attended by Matt Whyman author of ‘The Savages’, Ben Davis author of ‘The Private Blog of Joe Cowley’ and Tom Moorhouse author of ‘The River Singers’.

Literacy leader, Cheryse Rahaman, said: “This is a very exciting time for us at Steyning Grammar School. We have been very lucky to host so many author events during this term.

“The talks have been inspiring, entertaining and thought provoking. The zest that the students have experienced by being in front of passionate people has definitely been influential.

“ Lots of our students are curious as to how they get their own creative writing published as well as asking thought provoking questions such as ‘How do we make the world a better place?’

“We have so much talent here – the students have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. We look forward to the Brilliant Book Awards evening.”

If you are interested in taking part in the Brilliant Book Awards, contact Mr Muir at Steyning Grammar School on 01903 814555.