A successful children’s author recently ran a creative writing workshop for Year 8 pupils at Oswestry School.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave dropped in to discuss how she writes books and the inspirations behind her writing.
She explained to pupils how she ‘maps out’ her writing and the journey she takes from initial idea to a complete story. Kiran particularly spoke about her first children’s book, The Girl of Ink and Stars.
The novel won various prizes including the Waterstones Children’s Prize 2017, the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year and the Financial Times Book of the Year. It also won the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month twice and was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Award, Jhalak Prize and the Branford Boase Award.
Kiran spoke about her children’s books and her excitement for the launch of her first foray into adult fiction with The Mercies, and tasked the pupils to create a map of a story and to think of a main character and their attributes.
Nicola Dyke, an English teacher at Oswestry School, commented: “Not only can Kiran captivate audiences in her books, but she kept our pupils enthralled too. Her stories about writing The Girl of Ink and Stars, and the methods she used to help her, really resonated with the children. This workshop was a great opportunity for the pupils to explore their creative writing.”