Acclaimed children’s author visits Fairlands Middle School

Last week, as part of World Book Day celebrations, Fairlands Middle School welcomed acclaimed children’s author Fleur Hitchcock to deliver creative writing workshops to Year 6 students and an assembly to students in years 5 and 6.

When Fleur was eight, she wrote a story about an alien and a jelly. It was called The Alien and the Jelly. She grew up a little, studied English, and, for twenty years, sold Applied Art in the city of Bath. All that time she wrote hundreds of press releases and a few stories, but in the end motherhood won and she retreated from the Art world, only writing when the children were asleep. When her younger child was seven, she embarked on the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa University. Between parenting and writing, Fleur works with her husband, a Toymaker, looks after other people’s gardens, and enjoys growing vegetables.

Fleur has written 10 books for children since 2012 and her latest book, Murder at Snowfall is a gripping thriller for readers who like danger and mystery and chills and spills from the comfort of their sofa!

Writing mystery stories with an edge was the focus of her workshops at Fairlands Middle school. She encouraged students to reflect on their own experiences as a starting point to constructing their own mystery stories, discussing ideas in small groups, making notes and drafting ideas.

Two students in Fleur’s workshop reflected on the day;

‘On Tuesday we were visited by local author Fleur Hitchcock. She did an assembly all about her childhood, how she became an author and her inspirations for writing. It was really interesting because in the past I have considered becoming an author when I grow up, so it was interesting to hear about her own journey.’

Cara, Year 6

‘In the workshops, we started by writing and describing what it would be like to be in different situations, including how we feel, what we hear, and how we act when we are scared. We then built this up to write a paragraph on a scenario where you are calm and relaxed and suddenly hear a creak. I enjoyed the workshop because it taught be how to build up suspense in my writing.’

Rosie, Year 6