Nine years since his last visit to Oakham, international award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick, paid a virtual visit to all Lower Schools pupils.
Librarian Mrs Lucy Breag tells us more:-
“The audiences, spread across a number of classrooms for COVID-19 safety reasons, were eager to listen to Marcus and get as many writing and reading tips as possible.
Marcus, whose house was temporarily without electricity, joined us from his neighbour’s House in the French Alps where he lives. He began by delighting us with photos of his study, and more impressively, with photos of the sunny, snowy views from his windows. He spoke about the importance of place and setting in writing, and we learned about some of the inspirational places he had visited before penning his novels. He also told us how he considers travel as one of the perks of the job. We gained an insight into why Marcus set his novel Floodland where he did, having lived in Ely, which is surrounded by low lying Fens that are prone to flooding.
Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect to Marcus’s visit was his willingness to answer the many questions pupils had formulated in advance in their English lessons. Through these, we learned about his 20 second commute to work (as opposed to the four hours he used to travel in London) ; the fact that for a book priced £6.99 he receives about 35p (or 5p if bought from certain online retailers); but also, that writing is a job that gives you the freedom to live and work wherever you want to (the Alps looked pretty appealing, to be honest), which is worth an awful lot.
Overall, the virtual event was a great success and a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to meet such an inspirational and gifted author whose novels they have read.”
