Former Children’s Laureate at Prep
<p style=”text-align: center;”> <img alt=”” src=”images/anne_fine_prep_2.jpg” style=”width: 320px; height: 229px;” /></p> <p style=”text-align: justify;”> Prep pupils were excited to have a visit from author Anne Fine on Thursday 27 March. Although author visits to the School are not uncommon, Anne Fine, who is the former Children’s Laureate (the second author to hold the position, which she did from 2001-2003) and author of over 40 books for children and adults, is the most prestigious writer to visit the School to date. </p> <p style=”text-align: justify;”> Anne Fine is the winner of multiple prizes: the Nestle Smarties Prize, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the Whitbread Award and has twice won the CILIP Carnegie Medal the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book award for literature. Her novel <em>Blood Family </em>has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2014 and if it wins she will be the first to have received the award three times.</p> <p style=”text-align: justify;”> The children were naturally excited about the visit and they were not disappointed as Ms Fine proved to be a most entertaining speaker. During the three talks given to differnt year groups, she kept the children, and their teachers,in fits of giggles as she described how she gets inspiration for her books, and the actual writing process. She likened writing to making a casserole as you put lots of ideas together and then have to “let it stew!” Her talks were fun of hilarious anecdotes from her family life. Karen Yelverton, English Co-ordinator at Bancroft’s Prep said, “Anne Fine is an inspirational author with a wealth of fascinating tales to share. The children loved her.” This view was supported by the children with Prep 1 pupil Clementine Jamieson saying, “She is a really interesting writer with funny stories.” While her classmate Matusha Sivakumar said, “Anne Fine is an inspiration to me, as she writes excellent books.”</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
