On Thursday 9th June St. Mary’s pupils were visited by the multi-award-winning author, SF Said. The pupils loved learning more about all the books and were able to take inspiration from the visit back to their classes to help them with their creative journey in reading and writing.
About the author: SF Said is a multi-award-winning author. He was born in Lebanon, but has lived in London since he was 2 years old. He wrote his first novel, Varjak Paw (2003), while working as a speechwriter for the Crown Prince of Jordan.
Varjak Paw won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Children’s Literature, as well as regional book of the year awards. It has since been adapted as a stage play and an opera, and a film version is in development. It has been translated into 12 languages. Varjak Paw is currently featured on the CLPE’s recommended reading list for primary schools, and both books are being taught in classrooms across the UK.
The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw (2005), won the BBC’s Blue Peter Book Of The Year, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, and won the Leicester Teenage Book Of The Year.
Varjak Paw is a Mesopotamian Blue kitten. He lives high up in an old house on a hill. He’s never left home, but then his grandfather tells him about the Way – a secret martial art for cats. Now Varjak must use the Way to survive in a city full of dangerous dogs, cat gangs and, strangest of all the mysterious Vanishings.
SF’s third novel, PHOENIX (2013), is an epic space adventure for readers of 9 and up. It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award; and nominated for both the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal. Like the Varjak Paw books, it is illustrated by the outstanding artist and film maker Dave McKean.
Did you know: Research shows that author events in schools inspire children and help them on their journey to a love of reading.
‘The impact of an author visiting shouldn’t be underestimated. These are the types of things that people talk about when you ask them what they remember about school.’
Times Educational Supplement
‘The results of the Society of Authors research survey show that giving children the opportunity to meet an author has a huge impact on their reading habits, in many cases inspiring even the most reluctant reader to pick up a book.
Helena Pielichaty, SoA Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group Chair
