On Tuesday 18th June, author Alex Scarrow visited Northgate. Alex is an author from Norwich who has written a number of best-selling and award winning children’s, teen and young adult books, including the TimeRiders series, Re-Made, and many more.
While at Northgate, Alex ran two workshop sessions: one with a group of Year 7s and the other with some visiting Year 5 students from Toftwood Junior School. During the workshops, Alex discussed with pupils the need to be unique when writing stories, and gave them some advice and techniques about how they can come up with original ideas.
Following these workshops all of Year 7, plus our Year 5 visitors, had the opportunity to listen to Alex talk about his own journey into writing, and where he found his inspiration for the TimeRiders novels. It was really great to see the students hooked on Alex’s reading of TimeRiders, and the entire series has been loaned out of the library since his visit!
Emma and Pip, Year 7, said, ‘Alex did workshop about creating ideas. He taught us two different methods and we came up with some of our own original ideas and we voted for our favourites.
Later when he did an assembly he talked about writing his books and how he became an author. He also read part of the first TimeRiders. It was very inspiring, and it encouraged people to start writing their own original stories.
We thought the advice he gave us was helpful because it motivated us and helped us to come up with more fun and original ideas. The visit was very entertaining and educational at the same time. The things Alex talked about were interesting and everyone who saw it enjoyed it very much. ‘
We hope that what the students learnt from Alex’s visit will encourage them in their reading and inspire their writing in the future.
