Pupils inspired by children’s author
STUDENTS from across Macclesfield were given the opportunity to meet a celebrated teen author when she visited King’s.
Former agony aunt turned prolific author Cathy Cassidy told young writers all about her dream job in a special lecture.
Pupils from Fallibroome, All Hallows, Hurdsfield Community Primary and Rainow Primary School were invited to join students at King’s Girls Division to meet Cathy.
Formerly a fiction editor with Jackie and then agony aunt with Shout, Cathy told the students she had wanted to write books for the nine to 14 age range since she was that age herself.
She said: “It’s my absolute perfect job to write down my own daydreams, make up my own characters and stories and then share them with children like yourselves all over the world.”
Born in Coventry but having spent much of her life in the wilds of northern Scotland and now living on the Wirral near where she went to art college, Cathy has written some 27 books. They have been translated into 29 languages and have a truly global audience.
Her new book ‘The Broken Hearts’ Club’ is told from the perspectives of both a young girl and a young boy, each protago- nist taking chapters.
She said: “From the cover it looks like it is targeted at girls, but it is for boys too. I write about friendships, fitting in, growing up, all the things that concerned me as a child and all the things I could recognise from successive those who wrote to me when I was an agony aunt.”
She had some simple advice for those wanting to write: “Write something every day; not just what your teachers ask you to do, but write something for yourself.
“Like any job it takes a lot of practice to do it really well, but for me I enjoy the process of writing each and every day.”
Helen Broadley, principal of King’s Girls’ Division, said: “As one would expect of a writer who has reached out to so many children across the world, Cathy was able to engage and enthuse her audience from the moment she started speaking and we were very pleased to be able to share this experience with our friends from fellow Macclesfield schools.”