AUTHOR VISITS




















Patrice Lawrence

Award winning author, Patrice Lawrence, visited EPHS on 3rd March as part of our World Book Day celebrations 2022.  Patrice performed for our Year 9 and 10 students, introducing them to her books and tackling pertinent issues around diversity and representation in literature as well as answering questions in an open and honest way.  The students were also given the exciting opportunity to buy one of Patrice’s books and have it signed by her after the talk. 


Later in the day, a selected group of Year 9 students took part in an author workshop held in the Upper Library and were given some excellent creative writing hints and tips aimed at demystifying writing and encouraging them to find their own unique voices.  

A selection of Patrice's books can be found in the Upper and Lower Libraries, including Rat her 'quick read' novel, which was long listed for this year's Carnegie Award.  Look out for her new series The Elemental Detectives due out in September and described as 'historical plus fantasy plus mystery plus monsters!' - it's on our wish list!

Bishop Stortfort Festival of Literature

Running from 4th to 11th February 2022, this online Festival of Literature showcased some amazing YA and Children’s authors, and was a great opportunity for our students to see and hear the authors behind some of their favourite books.   The authors included Historian David Olusoga; Alex Wheatle, award winning author of books including The Crongton Knights series; A M Dassu, whose book appeared on last year’s Read for Empathy List; Robert Muchamore, author of four action packed series including the Cherub series; and Emily Haworth-booth, who ran a graphic novel and comic workshop.

A recording of each session is available to view for up to a year after this event, with the exception of David Olusoga’s.

Chris Bradford 


On Friday, 26th November and Friday 3rd December 2021, author Chris Bradford virtually visited EPHS to perform for our some of our Year 7 students.  Back by popular demand, the students learnt about Chris’s fantastic Young Samurai series of books, including what inspired Chris to write them and an insight into the real life events, people and locations upon which they are set. 

As before, this was a truly interactive and atmospheric session with changing backdrops, an author reading, Chris testing the students ‘ninja’ knowledge with a quiz, demonstrated his amazing samurai sword and held a brilliant Q&A session, which the students loved!

He also revealed that the second book in his explosive Soul Series, Soul Prophesy, is due out this coming February - it's on our wish list!
Chris’s second session for Year 7s is next Friday, 13th November.

Adisa the Verbaliser


Today, Monday 29th March 2021, the wonderful Adisa virtually visited EPHS via Zoom to perform for our Year 9 students and conduct a poetry workshop.  

It was a really fun and interactive session, with students being encouraged to finish Adisa's rhymes, ask him questions (as long as they were not to do with his height - he's 6 ft 5 inches!), respond to his poetry and create and share their own five line cinquain poems using 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables.

Adisa developed a love of writing and performing poetry through the discovery and knowledge of the wealth and richness of African culture. Like Alex Wheatle, books and reading were his gateway.  Winning the New Performance Poet of the Year award in 1994 persuaded him that a career in Poetry was an option. 

One lucky student won a signed poetry book, Lip hopping with the Fundi Fu from Adisa, and six more will be given out to a student from each class, nominated by their teacher.  Adisa also revealed that he will be releasing a new collection of poems next year - we can't wait!


Authors Aloud Awesome Authorfest 


To celebrate World Book Day 2021, we took part in the Authors Aloud Virtual Author Events, with our students being given the opportunity to take part in three live sessions with the award-winning Sally Gardner, Alex Wheatle and author of the phenomenally successful Murder Most Unladylike series, Robin Stevens.


Delivered as a webinar via Zoom, each session offered something different with the authors talking about how they write and what inspires them.  All were equally engaging.  A recording of each session is available to view until Monday 5th April 2021. 


Matt Oldfield

Today, Wednesday 16th December, was the second of our Year 8 Virtual Author Visits with the very lovely author Matt Oldfield, author of Unbelievable Football: The Most Incredible True Football Stories You Never Knew and the Jonny Ball: Accidental Football Genius series.  Matt is also one half of the brothers who write the phenomenally successful Ultimate Football Heroes series, beloved by many of our football loving students.

Conducted over Zoom, the theme of the visit was bouncing back from setbacks and Matt provided two fantastic examples from the footballing world, Mo Salah and Alex Morgan, to generate a discussion about how we recognise and overcome setbacks.  As well as the worksheet activity, the students had various opportunities through the course of the session to ask Matt questions, which he answered with wit and candour.  

The students really enjoyed taking part in the session, with the majority wanting Matt to visit virtually again although some would rather meet him in person next time!

At the end of the call Ms Peters and I were very lucky to get a sneak peak of Matt’s beautiful miniature Dachshund/Jack Russell cross puppy, Claude.

CHRIS BRADFORD


On Friday, 6th November, author Chris Bradford virtually visited EPHS to perform for our some of our Year 7 students.  
The students learnt about Chris’s fantastic Young Samurai series of books, including what inspired Chris to write them and an insight into the real life events, people and locations upon which they are set.   


A truly interactive and atmospheric session with changing backdrops, Chris gave an author reading, tested the students ‘ninja’ knowledge with a quiz, demonstrated his amazing samurai sword and held a brilliant Q&A session, which the students loved!


Chris was really encouraging to all the budding writers out there, especially during these testing times.  He confided that he experienced writers block at the beginning of lockdown in March and encouraged the students to just give it a go - ‘shoot for the moon and you will end up among the stars’.

He also revealed that he has a new series of books coming out this February beginning with The Soul Hunters - this is on our wish list!

Chris’s second session for Year 7s is next Friday, 13th November.

MARCUS SEDGWICK

On Friday, 2nd October, author Marcus Sedgwick virtually visited EPHS.  Thirty of our Year 10 students were given the unique and exciting opportunity of finding out first-hand about the life of a successful writer and to ask him a question of their choice. 

Marcus was very open and engaging about his experiences and invited the students to ask him anything about writing and books.

He began by taking them on a virtual tour of his writing room, talking them through the processes he goes through when writing his books and giving them an insight into the world of book publishing.  

The students asked some interesting and insightful questions to which they received illuminating and thought-provoking answers. 

They particularly enjoyed learning about the process of being an author and having questions answered from the perspective of a successful author.  They all wished that there had been more time to be able to ask more questions and would love Marcus to visit again! 

One student commented that "it was an amazing experience and I'm sure others would enjoy this very much if they had the opportunity!".  



All those that took part will receive a signed copy of Marcus's brilliant Carnegie shortlisted book Saint Death.

ALEX WHEATLE


On Friday 31st January author Alex Wheatle visited EPHS to perform for our Year 8 and 9 students and sign copies of his Crongton series of books. The focus of the day was to inspire, motivate and enthuse the students to read for pleasure, and Alex did just that!

His performances were tailored slightly differently to suit the different audiences, with the Year 8 performance including a Q&A session at the end.


There was an overwhelmingly positive response to Alex's visit from both students and staff, with some normally reluctant readers clamouring to buy books at end of his performances.  “Alex’s performance has encouraged me to find my talents and also use reading and writing to help me improve”.


To the question do you think Alex should visit the school again, it was a resounding yes!  "Definitely, it was an inspiring performance and all students should have the chance to hear him speak".

 “It was an inspirational life lesson and a joy to just sit down and listen. It was great! It was amazing! I think he really motivated some people including me today”.

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