Magnus Church of England Academy year 7 students were visited by children’s author Nathanael Lessore this week.
During the event, Nathanael spoke to students about his average day as a writer, and discussed the inspirations behind his books, ‘Steady for This’ and ‘King of Nothing’.
All year 7 students at the academy were gifted a copy of Nathanael’s book as a seasonal gift from the academy.
Nathanael said he enjoyed visiting Magnus C of E Academy and found the students were engaged, -asking a plethora of questions about his journey to becoming a published author. He said, “I really enjoyed meeting the students. Through the questions and answers section, it became obvious they were not viewing me as ‘other’, or a stuffy author talking to them on a stage, but rather as someone with experiences they wanted to discuss. When students become comfortable to ask you such questions, I feel like I have done my job!”
Following Nathanael’s presentation, the question-and-answer session lasted another 25 minutes. “Lots of questions about being an author,” said Nathanael, “and some about my favourite footballers too! But hearing that some of the students are intent on becoming authors, and wanting to succeed at that, -well that would be a dream come true for me as well!
“That’s why the school visits are so enjoyable. You hope that you can inspire students to achieve their own goals, and importantly, I get to meet the people that I am writing for.”
Student O-B Cross is in year 7 and is already writing a series of books in his spare time, “I really enjoyed listening today because I want to learn how to improve my own writing. I love writing my own books and find it’s a really good hobby. I have had a good day today, listening to all the ways the author goes about writing and finding new stories.”
Heather Jackson (Magnus Learning Resource Centre Manager) said, “We are proud to be able to gift our Year 7 students a book again this Christmas and we hope it will encourage them to keep reading through their time here at Magnus.
“We gift a book to every Year 7 because we feel reading is such a vital part of a student’s progression during their time in school, and this falls in line with our vision which is to develop people of good character.”
This year’s book gift was, ‘Steady for This’, written by Nathanael Lessore.
Assistant Principal, Sarah Harper, said: “We are honoured to have Nathanael join us for the event and to talk to Year 7 about his experiences as a published author and his inspiration for the book. At Magnus we value the impact reading can have on our students, it’s so important that they get the opportunity to hear from a published author, to understand what inspired them, see where that creativity stems from and where that creativity can lead.
“We are proud of the attitudes and behaviour of Year 7 throughout the event and very impressed with the questions they asked of Nathanael after his talk. Well done Year 7 and we hope they enjoy reading this over the Christmas break!”