Author back to school for Book Day
A CHILDREN’S fiction writer is going to school today for World Book Day.
North East author Dan Smith is visiting Sedgefield Community College in County Durham, where he will be telling pupils about his work and his life.
Dan reckons he visits between 20 and 30 schools a year, not just in this region but as far afield as London.
As an acclaimed writer of children’s fiction – he also writes adult thrillers – he admits it’s part business, but he also gets a lot of pleasure out of it too.
“It’s something that is kind of expected if you write for younger readers as well as being part of the job, promoting my books as I want them to read them,” he said.
“But it’s also, hopefully, about inspiring them to read by trying to get them excited about stories.
“It is also to show the students that authors are not untouchable people but ordinary people just like them, and that anybody can do it.”
This is the 22nd year there has been a World Book Day which has been designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in more than 100 countries all over the world.
The event, Dan says, is as important as it has ever been because of the good which reading does for kids, not just for personal enjoyment but for life skills too.
He said: “It’s one of those things that people think maybe it doesn’t really matter that much nowadays. The opposite is true.
“It’s important for kids to read as those who read most do best at school, are able to concentrate in class more, are more
creative, have a stronger vocabulary, have more empathy with people and more understanding of other people’s beliefs and culture.”
And Dan said choice was of great importance, stressing the need both for school libraries and librarians who work in them.
“There’s nothing worse for kids than being told what they have to read. The more choice the better,” he added.
As well as his books, Dan has a few entertaining tales to tell about his life.
Although he has roots in the North East – his mum’s family were from Chester-le-Street and his great grandfather was Lord Lawson of Beamish – his dad’s job saw him travelling to exotic places around the world like Sumatra and Brazil.
He has also lived in Spain and Russia, but is now settled back in Newcastle with his wife and children.
His latest book is out today, called She Wolf. Set in AD 866 in the Kingdom of Northumbria, it is about Ylva, a young Viking girl, who is swept by a storm to England where she is orphaned.
Her mother has been murdered by a three-fingered man and, determined to avenge her death, she tracks the killer north with her dog.
It proves to be a journey in more ways than one which sees Ylva – which means She Wolf – learn to trust again as well as find the tables turned on her when she becomes the hunted and not the hunter.
It’s aimed at a younger audience and sounds like an exciting read to inspire them.
Dan said: “Hopefully when I do the talks all the kids have a good time, but even if just one of them is inspired to do some writing or become a reader, then I have achieved something.”