Skip to main content

World Book Day.




For anyone in the literary field World Book Day is an event we all look forward to, a day dedicated to books and writing, celebrating some of the literary  greats and gaining new insights. This year along with my writer friend Leah Osborne I had the honour of being invited as a guest author at Moat Community College. I read a poem and short story from my latest collection Embarrassing Siblings,Playground Taunts and other Growing Pains. I tried to deliver the message of never giving up on dreams even if peers,teachers,etc tell you otherwise. It was heartening to find the year nine pupils engaged in the exercises we set them. Leah and I also had to undertake these exercises by writing a story on the spot.


Altogether I found this day very gratifying and it was very humbling to hear comments about how the children benefited from an educational point of view. The second group of year nines requested I write a story about them, which I will do. I did however promise a poem and this is how I summed up the whole day.


For world book day,
I would pray
that you would be kind
and listen with an open mind.
Thinking it maybe a bore,
and you would find the door.
Not just sat still,
but got a thrill.
You were all burning,
with your thirst for learning.
Beyond contentment
there was even excitement.
Your eyes lit up,
ready to erupt.
Being free
ideas thrown at me.


I couldn't not believe
you didn't want to leave.
Engaged in every way
never any dismay.
I hope from this day,
You have taken away,
Lessons of a lifetime,
Where you continue to shine.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post Christmas Recovery Kit!

 To say this year is a festive season like no other is a massive understatement! Without a pandemic the festive period for separated families can be a time of doom and gloom. It is with this in mind I decided to release my current book " The Post-Divorce Recovery Kit" just before Christmas.  In 2014 I published " The Divorce Toolbox" which focused more on the legal proceedings around divorce, aimed at people who were at the decision-making stage of divorce or going through court proceedings. My current book looks more closely at ways of supporting children through the process. I have included a chapter about " The difficult firsts" where I have shared my story about Christmas away from my daughter for the first time.  As the festive period continues there is now the pandemic to factor in. If there are still difficulty with the non-resident parent, it will be even harder to make decisions and reach an agreement. I have also included a section about work...
Post a Comment
Read more

1448 was great!

To continue from the last post, my weekend as a Runner on the 1448 Design Team was beyond awesome. The theme for the first night was “ I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” On the first day I didn’t get the full 1448 experience due to juggling this with a day job but I definitely gained invaluable experience from the time I spent. My lunch hour was spent making poo tentacles and cutting material for neckerchiefs. When I returned in the evening it was a long but fun night with a happy and hardworking team that made every moment an amazing experience. We were on our feet all night running around but we had a lot of laughter in the process. Between running around I caught a glimpse of some of the acts and wow what amazing talents from the writers,actors and directors. I got in at 2am and caught a few hours sleep ready for the next day. Even with less sleep once I walked into The Y the energy of all the people around me woke me up. The theme for Saturday was “no pain no gain.” I felt on...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pen Strikes Again!!!!

In my last post I introduced my new book Embarrassing Siblings,Playground Taunts and other Growing Pains, which is a semi autobiographical anthology of poems and short fiction based on my childhood experiences. This collection covers adolescent issues that are still close to my heart such as bullying,racism,eating disorders, low self esteem, early puberty and many more issues. The bullying issues I cover in this collection  are not just describing fellow peers but also teachers. My siblings and I all have experience of having our dreams mocked or being met with negativity. The headteacher at my primary school told my mother that I would never set foot in a university. He was right I did not set foot in one university but two with two degrees to show for it. While I was being mocked, picked on etc  behind closed doors I had an outlet to vent which  was through my writing which has led to this collection. In some ways I feel the playground bullies, boys who called m...
Post a Comment
Read more